What's Occurring?

I can't believe that I have *finally* cottoned on to this fantastic programme

Nine Ladies Design

I've been added to my wonderful dressmaker's website!!!

You can find me HERE

This has cheered me up and made me smile so much :)

********Thankyou Liz*********

*True* Friendship xxx

The real thing.

Always there when you need it.

Incommunicado

Rhonda Goodall-Kirk ~ from 'The Greatest Show on Earth'

"A small traveling circus from the 1930’s dust bowl era or the dirty thirties; through this subject matter I wish to depict the emotional struggle we all face everyday. In the 1930’s the world was engulfed in poverty and running toward the Second World War. Today the gap between the haves and the have-not’s is bigger and growing, not unlike in the thirties. Homelessness is on the rise and we are stripping the earth bare of it’s natural resources.

Like the clowns and circus performers we all have a face we show to the world and a face we wear in private. Often the faces are poles apart. Pigeon holed, society doesn’t see the man behind the mask" (Goodall-Kirk 2008).

Blue

Full Circle

Last night I had the most fantastic night with my wonderful men...

We began with a little light wii and Prosecco but when I opened G's perfect present and discovered Perudo we swiftly moved into the vodka and coke and so began a series of wildfire games of Liar's dice. This addictive little beast came to G during his recent visit to China and has now infiltrated Todmorden...

I lost count of the amount of times I called Liar and got It wrong, but I still loved it...

By the time we set out to the pub I was much gigglesome and full of happiness, In fact, I think we all were...

Jon what *are* you doing with your finger? and more's the point, why?

My men laughing...one of my favourite sounds in the world.

I was very very cold but very very happy and we were all, very very stripey!

Jon bathed in the light and warmth of the outdoor heat lamp

the couple mutually texting and smoking made me laugh in the background there....

Angelic G...this might be the most innocent I have ever seen him look!

I love Guinness *soo* much...xxx

Twenty things you didn't know about me....

1)I don't really enjoy travelling at all, and am a real homebody, I hate being away from Fig and the familiar, comfortable and comforting surroundings of home, and have suffered terrible bouts of agoraphobia - the worst being a nine month period when we were living in Chorlton and I couldn't go further than our front doorstep without a terrible anxiety attack - and while i am much better now, it is still an ongoing battle that i sometimes have to fight hard to beat.

2)I always have the TV on - even through the night, and cannot sleep without it - but 99% of the time i am watching dvds and i very rarely watch live tv-usually one program takes my fancy every month or two which i make an effort to watch, and even then, i often decide to watch that using iplayer/online - i just don't like having to do something at a time chosen by someone else - and this is true for a lot more than just television(!)

3)I put Radio four on when i'm in the kitchen as it feels like stepping back into my very happy childhood in Knock, and if i close my eyes and concentrate i can almost feel the warmth and love of home, and smell the bread cooking.

4)My mum and dad are both dead. I think about them every single day and miss them both terribly - and whilst i have come to terms with losing them, and believe that life does go on and you have to keep on keeping on, the pain of their loss will never leave me and is always there, like a little stitch in my side.

5)I adore all animals, but cats most especially, and we have a wonderful black and white moggy called Fig, both myself and Jon LOVE him like a baby and he is a constant companion and our dearest friend. He's 19 years old and has no tail after being run over in a horrible accident that nearly cost him his life and us £1000, this all happened on my 25th birthday.

6)I have a complete and all consuming love of stripes and all things stripey, a conservative estimate of just my stripey 'tops' would be around 100 - in all colours, styles and sizes.

7)My favourite band is The Clash, and although i am too young to have ever seen them perform, i have seen: Joe Strummer(with the mescaleros), Mick Jones(with carbon/silicon) and Paul Simonon(with the good, the bad and the queen) now all i need is for Topper Headon to start gigging again!

8)I've snogged Joe Strummer (see above)

9)I met Jon (my wonderful husband) in 1997 when i was in my second year at university in Liverpoool but he wasn't a fellow student, he was in fact, my lecturer.

10)My best friend G is my soulmate and I have known him somewhere between seven years and my whole life. He calls me Lady.

11)My family on my mum's side is Irish Catholic and my grandmother Mary Ronan was heavily involved with Fianna Fail and a great friend of it's founder Eamon de Valera.

12)I have a half-sister called Angela i have never met.

13)My cousin Andy Rourke was in The Smiths.

14)I grew up in Cumbria, and spent my formative years in Penrith, with my second family in a pub that no longer exists called 'The Sally'.

15)My dad was in the army for 25 years and spent almost his entire service abroad on non-european tours of duty. These included Eygpt (during the Suez crisis), Benghazi (during the six day war), Cyprus (when arch bishop Makarias and the turks were rising), Ethiopia and Eritrea (working alongside Haile (Rastafari!) Selassie). I got my earliest history lessons via his wonderful stories and the black and white photographs he took and developed throughout -he left me his trusty Nikon and incredible albums stuffed with 40s/50s and 60s life in foreign lands when he died.

16)I used to be a chef, as my mum was before me. The ridiculous hours and paltry pay are the reason i stopped, but working in kitchens during a crazy-busy service when the checks are flying in, the burners are firing and sweat is dripping off your nose is the most enjoyable, adrenaline-fuelled fun i've ever had with my clothes on.

17)I can drive a tractor but not a car.

18)I find Christmas and it's run up an absolutely magical time of year, and despite not being a fan of travel - my greatest wish is to one day visit Lapland, meet Father Christmas and see the northern lights, it might sound twee, but snow, sleigh-rides and santa rock my little world.

19)I'm crazy about all things aquatic and love visiting aquariums, there's something ethereal about being in the darkness with the blue shining water and brightly coloured fish and coral.

20)I've had some wild times and have tried most things at least once, and am glad i did, and have no regrets. But, I am so glad to be exactly where i am right now, happy and contented in the countryside with those i love close about me.

Take me out...

This is my husband Jon. He is freezing. After a particularly bad day at work I suggested we just drop everything and go out. It was completely impromptu and just the best night together.

We went to The Tapas bar and drank two giant glasses of cruzcampo each which went down so well and made us feel like we were on holiday :)

We also tried several little dishes of tapas including delightfully sizzling Gambas with chilli and garlic, sweet and smoky Chorizo, lightly battered Calamari with aioli, little Black pudding canapes, small spicy sweetmeat parcels and chicken with honey. They were all incredibly tasty and there are *soo* many more things to go back and try, especially as the stews Jon (the jinx!) asked about were unfortunately unavailable that night.

It was so cold that a coating of thick frost lay on the cars. I wasn't wearing a coat as it's literally a few hundred yards away, but by the time I had faffed around taking photographs and Jon had done some window shopping I was chilled to the bone and had to take a hot water bottle to bed.

Happy Birthday to me :)

I. am. thirty three.

How did that happen?????

Early birthday

This one goes out to the men I love...

***T H A N K Y O U***

for my early birthday

About last night....

cords, peeling potatoes, hotel california, lighting candles, uncrossed wires, drinking guinness with two hands, all is right with the world, scarf, silent hill, biting my lip, singing to nuggets, they call me *Chef* Bloor, cracking crackling, roast pork and red cabbage, elephant trail, braille, best birthday cupcakes and strong coffee, the otherworld, shake them off with two hands man!, *epic* backflip over the sofa, arms length photography, we could be here some time, white russians and mudslides, spatial awareness is not my strong point, left left left fuck we've gone in a circle, vodka and coke, stirred not shaken, something-something, short story, trainsets, our dream, not our sheep, finished, best game ever, joint psyche report, tell me something i don't know, amazing, fionn and sive, radio days, eskimo noses, goodnight :)

Keep on Keeping on

This has been lodged in my head today. I love the sentiment of the words and use them often. I was given a copy of it by Danny years ago and also tend to associate it, as I do with most northern soul, with Sean.

My head is a bit brimful today, I'm thinking about Jon being so tired this morning he could barely walk in a straight line, tottering out the door with his thermos. I'm thinking about G sneezing like a kitten and wish I could give him a hug. I'm thinking about Trish Keenan from Broadcast who died this morning at far too young an age. I'm thinking about how much pain Simon Pavey is in after the crash and the sleep deprivation. I'm thinking about fish discards and the ridiculous waste. I'm thinking about the Brazilian and Australian floods. I'm thinking about Michaela McAreavey and her poor, devastated and broken family and husband. I'm thinking about Fionn mac Cumhaill and Sive and their deepest of loves.

Still smiling.....

:) :) :)