SUITCASE, SCRIBING & MAKTUBAT

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SUITCASE, SCRIBING & MAKTUBAT.

I thought you might be interested to see, my dear mothers elderly small SUITCASE. One of my earliest memories is of mum popping a letter in her case. She was a great letter writer and my brother and I were encouraged from an early age to write letters especially THANK YOU LETTERS. When we were very small these were small little notes with just a few words and our names painstakingly formed, often with a little stick figure picture.

This letter writing was quite a painful experience for my brother who struggled with his reading and writing when young and having me as a little sister who was reading and writing by the time I reached 4 made it harder. But however long it took it would be finished and mum would place the letters carefully in an envelope and we would take turns in posting them in the letter box.

What excitement we felt when we received a LETTER or a POSTCARD and if I am honest I still enjoy receiving a proper letter now even though they are very few. Most of us use E-MAIL, TEXT or other SOCIAL MEDIA to communicate and that’s great because we all love to hear from our friends and family but there isn’t anything quite like a hand written letter.

My mother’s case contained every single letter and thank you note she had received dating from 1949, including letters she had sent my father when they were COURTING. Letters and notes from family including children, grandchildren and great grandchildren and letters from friends. A WHOLE LIFETIME OF LETTERS. What a gift she has left us, a case full of history.

Lining the bottom of the case was a piece of NEWSPAPER dated  25 August 1964 and has an advert for the forerunner of cheap flights amongst other gems. Funnily enough I once worked for this newspaper.

This has made me think that perhaps I should make an effort to write and send more letters, notes and cards. I have even purchased a storage box from the charity shop to start my own collection of MAKTUBAT.

Yours Writely

 

Celia

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE STRANGER IN THE NIGHT

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE STRANGER IN THE NIGHT. According to Ronald I sat up in bed last night and shouted “WHO ARE YOU? WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY BED?”.

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Funnily enough I can remember what I thought was waking up and seeing this STRANGER in my bed, I didn't recognise Ronald at all. How WEIRD was that dream?

Probably not the best precursor to SAINT VALENTINES DAY.

Yours Lovingly

Celia

POUND SHOPS, SNUGGLES & DANGLING CROWS

As you can see my dear ladies and occasional gentleman, HIRSUTE ROLEY is snuggled in for the duration. I think he has the right idea.

Have all the POUND SHOPS/STORES etc taken over our HIGH STREETS along with CHARITY SHOPS? It seems that the brand new goods in these shops are cheaper at a £1 a pop than the items in the Charity Shops which have become more EXPENSIVE.

It is a TOPSY-TURVY WORLD. Especially after the HURRICANE FORCE WINDS. In the village there are fences down, sheds blown away, along with trampolines, toys, chairs, bins and small animals.

We were treated to the strange sight of a CROW trying to fly in an easterly direction, being blown by the wind in a westerly direction and looking like it was being DANGLED BY A PIECE OF STRING outside of our window.

Yours Windily

Celia

CUBITS, HURRICANES & HOVERING EAGLES

CUBITS, HURRICANES & HOVERING EAGLES.
This morning we awoke to 80 miles per hour winds and no I am not talking about Ronald, following on from his BUBBLE AND SQUEAK supper..

Talking of Ronald, I am a little concerned, he has taken to mutterings. I am almost positive I heard him mutter this morning “300 CUBITS BY 50 BY 30”. We arrived back from grocery shopping yesterday, to a message on the answer phone announcing that a LARGE QUANTITY OF WOOD is to be delivered.

Just notified on BBC1 hurricane on LUNDY ISLAND, the EXPECTED WIND-SPEEDS have risen to between 80 and 100 MILES AN HOUR. the ELECTRICITY is now flickering, so is bound to go off soon. At least that will save some money, as I have just discovered that our previous electricity supplier has been SWAPPING OUR LOW NIGHT-RATE FOR THE HIGH DAY-RATE. no wonder our bills had been so expensive.

How long do you think it will take me to sort that our with the ELECTRICITY SUPPLIER?

Must go Ronald is muttering about CUBIT UPWARDS and has headed outside with a WOOD-SAW!

My dear ladies and occasional gentleman, think of us here in the WEST COUNTRY, which appears to be sinking under OCEANS OF WATER and WHIPPED UP BY HURRICANE WINDS.

Say a little PRAYER to ST MEDARD Patron Saint Against Bad Weather, who was saved as a child as he sheltered under a HOVERING EAGLE.

Let’s hope there is a HOVERING EAGLE over the BRITISH ISLES.

Yours Nervously

Celia

HEADHUNTERS, CHAMPAGNE & CARRIAGES

HEADHUNTERS, CHAMPAGNE & CARRIAGES.

My dear ladies and occasional gentleman, we are celebrating in the Ladygarden residence. Dear Morello has been HEAD-HUNTED (such a vulgar expression) and today she accepted their offer.

So as you can see we have popped those CHAMPAGNE corks and celebrated. This is my favourite CHAMPAGNE and quite honestly it is my drink of choice.

If only we still used HORSE and CARRIAGE to travel about I would drink it every day.

Yours Bubbily

Celia.

STRAY STRAGGLERS, SUGAR & SPA

STRAY STRAGGLERS, SUGAR & SPA
My dear ladies and occasional gentleman to return to the SPA afternoon…..

We all met at Karena’s house a beautiful example of RETRO STYLE and good taste. As we were leaving I could hear her regaling Veronica with a tale. She was saying she had her husband check for STRAY STRAGGLERS on the backs of her legs that she may have missed. Understandable when you know you will be revealing all in a spa.

Apparently he used HONEY AND BROWN SUGAR to remove said hairs. I assumed this was a speciality form of SUGURING, perhaps the HONEY helped the healing process and softened the skin.

Perhaps I should try this but I don’t think Ronald would like to be up to his armpits in STICKY.

It was only when we were in the HOT TUB sipping CHAMPAGNE and I mentioned to Karena that I had never heard of this technique, she revealed that she had been talking about the HAM they had eaten for dinner!

What a relaxing day with good friends, swimming in a warm pool, sauna, hot tub and a wonderful facial and head massage. Which made me look like a lobster who had stuck a claw in the socket as my hair was standing at right-angles to my head with a dopey smile on my face.

I couldn’t see myself so was puzzled when the others were reduced to hysterics on my appearance but heigh-ho.

Yours Relaxedly

Celia

SPAS, SPICERS, SPADES & JU JITSU

SPAS, SPICERS, SPADES & JU JITSU.
My dear ladies and occasional gentleman, I was absent yesterday as I went to a SPA with my daughter, Morello and my dear friends, Veronica and Karena. What larks!

Of course I had to drag Veronica away from her ‘FORAGING’ which is probably just as well as she has been getting into some TIGHT-SPOTS recently. She was nearly caught out when foraging in Mr Spicer’s shed. She had just got her hands on Mr Spicer’s ‘WILJAS’ when Mrs Spicer turned up with Mr Spicer’s CHEESE & PICKLE SANDWICHES with the crusts cut off on a count of his wobbly dentures.

Veronica had to squeeze herself into a space between a HORI HORI KNIFE and a RABBITING SPADE, throwing a potato sack over her head! I have told her for her own safety to stick too HEDGEROWS and WOODS. I wouldn’t fancy her chances against Mrs Spicer she has a BLACK-BELT IN JU JITSU!

I’ve gone off PISTE now, haven’t I? That’s the trouble with Veronica, she always takes you places you do not want to go!

I think I’ll tell you about THE SPA tomorrow.

Yours Harrassedly

Celia

THE QUEEN & THE ECONOMIC PINCH

THE QUEEN AND THE ECONOMIC PINCH worried me so…….

I became the LADY OF SHALLOTS and cooked some I grew last year and had stored in the shed. I am going to make a SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE with them with some VEGGIE MINCE.

I hope the recipe turns out to be YUMMY AND TASTY as I am testing it out for my dear friend THE QUEEN.

I expect my dear ladies and occasional gentleman that you have seen in the PRESS that her Maj is feeling the ECONOMIC PINCH.

She rang me for advice and the first thing I said was, “stop buying those expensive PERSONALISED TOILET ROLLS with the CORGIS on!”.

The second was to cut down on some of her GROCERY expenses and suggested she tried replacing her PRIME SCOTCH BEEF MINCE with some VEGGIE MINCE.

“Maj ” I told her “you will all benefit from eating a little less MEAT”.

She said ” I CAN give up my SCOTCH MINCE but I will NOT give up my SAUSAGE!”

Yours Rebukedly

Celia

THE LEVITATING GNOME

THE LEVITATING GNOME

Oh what a night, 70+ miles an hour winds and torrential rain.

The 6ft fence that borders our garden had a panel that decided
to LIMBO backwards. Ronald went out into the GALE and roped it to the LARGE GARDEN GNOME that was my dear mothers.

THE GNOME was a gift the Christmas before she passed. Ronald and my son had crept into her garden at about 1am in the early hours of the morning and dug a hole in her lawn to sit it in. She had been so thrilled when she woke up and saw it out of the window that I didn’t have the heart to part with it.

When we cleared her house he was trundled up to our home on a SACK-TROLLEY because he is so big and heavy. Hence the reason why Ronald had used him as an ANCHOR.

This morning we awoke to another day of torrential rain, hail-stones, gale force winds and the GNOME LEVITATING APPROXIMATELY 9 INCHES OFF THE GROUND HORIZONTALY!

Yours Windily

Celia

MULTI-TASKING RONALD

MULTI-TASKING RONALD.

Oh  dear, this morning Ronald was ruffled and I don’t just mean his hair, which was sticking up all over following his shower.. He had a look of Stan Laurel about him.

The other day he purchased an extremely large tin of TREACLE from good old LIDLS. 

Now I am aware of his fancy for TREACLE but this is rather a large tin; perhaps he is thinking there may be a run on TREACLE, or maybe he is going to extend it’s usage.

We arrive at the MULTI-TASKING activity.There he was this morning with his porridge just out of the microwave, his treacle tin and spoon ready, when he decided he would feed little hirsute Roley. So now he also has a dog bowl, dog food, porridge and treacle lined up on the unit. 

My dear ladies and occasional gentleman, you are probably ahead of me here and have a good idea of what’s to come.

Ronald takes out the dog mixer biscuits from the cupboard and puts some in the dog bowl, all good so far. He returns the DOG BISCUITS to the cupboard and picks up the dog food, sticks in the spoon and heads for the PORRIDGE ………………………

Yours Chucklingly

Celia