The Voice Of Reason

Many of you know blueberrymoon and if you don't, you should definitely check out her journal. She's an artist and a photographer. She sells her paintings on eBay and prints of her paintings and her photography on Etsy.com and today she greeted her friends and family at the Love, Me boutique on Birmingham Street in Halifax. Love, Me features crafts and hand made items including local artists and they are featuring her photos and other items made from her photos and paintings such as buttons, cards, mini purse mirrors, and her prints, framed and unframed. You can see the framed prints i the pics through the cut. I went after work for a little while but my back was not up to standing for too long. The shop was filling up when i left, though. Shelagh's work is always wonderful. Her paintings are bright and cheerful folk art and her photography is just *that* good! One of my favourite photos is this one that she took of her daughter's checked socks and red shoes against a black and white tiled step in London. I bought a set of cards, one of which is this one so i can get a red frame for it. I also bought a button of one of her paintings, cat looking at a night sky. Seeing a photo or painting on her LJ always brightens up my flist :)

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We had a nice evening, hanging out with our mates from the Manchester area (all of whom ANOLJ). Sadly, a couple others (swanofkennet and trixiedelarue) couldn't make it but gramie_dee and i will catch up with them on Monday in the Lakes. We ate at a curry buffet restaurant and completely stuffed ourselves but no ill effects today, luckily. Graham is taking his dad out this afternoon and i'm staying in to cook a lasagna and probably mess about with my photos, too. We have so many between us and even picking a couple of the better ones from each place we went, did or saw in Paris is going to make for a lot of photos. Will definitely have to make a 'highlights' album.

I've been reading Harry Potter all week. Even though i did cheat when the book came out and peeked at spoilers, it's not the same as reading it is it? It's quite good and moving along quite well. I do get annoyed at Harry always whinging about his lot in life and nobody being straight with him. This very negative attitude started in Order of the Phoenix and hasn't improved much. Yes, Yes i know. Look at what he's been through, you wouldn't expect him to be a cheery soul would you? No i wouldn't. Doesn't mean it still doesn't get on my nerves. Anyway i'm enjoying it.

Meeting a former coworker after work on Friday i think, for a drink or two. She moved to Florida awhile ago now. There aren't too many left in the office that would still remember her or who knew her that well.

Is it ever chilly out today! It was supposed to get warm but it didn't and it's damn cold waiting in the wind for the bus coming home!

The reunion last night was nice. A few of us met up beforehand at the home of one of us. "Us"? the group of friends that I hung out with in high school. We still keep in touch and see each other, less frequently than we used to but we still touch base. 8 of us went to the reunion this time. I saw a couple others i went through school with and had some nice conversations. The canoe club was a lovely place to have it, right on the lake. Most people stood out on the big deck rather than sit inside. I think there were not as many people this time as the last one i went to in 2002 but there was probably upwards of 100 there, most of whom i didn't know. I did recognize a few faces but never did know them well enough to talk to. There were two cash bars, one inside the old club building (lovely building too, apparently built in 1903 i think) and one outside on the deck. That was a canoe filled with ice and bottles of beer and coolers! Great idea! There are a few photos including one of the boat-bar here. Obviously not really relevant to most of you out there but the one of the boat with the beer in it is there too. Got home about 1 a.m.

Today i have to get a move on and get the car back to Mom early this afternoon. Tomorrow is a holiday, celebrating the birthday of the cities so there have been things going on all weekend. Not sure if i'll take in any of the events or not. It would be nice to get out in the sun.

Nasty power outage caused the LJ bork last night apparently.

Looks like i've gathered a few people to go to the high school reunion. Now i've got to call up and sort out a ticket for myself. It's $25 now or $35 at the door. Cheaper to do it now. I think i might go shopping after work and see if i can find anything new to wear, a top or something that will go with one of my skirts maybe. I'm not planning to dress up too fancy but it would be nice to have something new and the shops have their summer sales on now.

Summer. Yes. We're finally getting it this week!

You know, it's happened again. Someone you know dies and then you find out that someone else is pregnant. A coworker just announced that his wife is having their second baby. It seems to go that way so often, doesn't it? I mean, of course it does, that's life, deaths and births but so often you hear of someone you know having a baby right after you hear about someone passing, either just announcing the pregnancy or an actual birth. Sometimes it's a death shortly after a birth. A few years ago, a good internet friend of mine passed away just a couple of months after his second grandson was born.

I had a lovely long chat to my future father-in-law tonight. It's his 80th birthday today. I'd sent a card but thought i would call as well. We talked the gamut of things from weather, to politics, Paris to Elba to Oliver Cromwell. Discovered he likes history, too, like i do and we discussed Cromwell and where he'd fit in with today's politics, and also Napoleon. He'd been to Elba to visit the compound where Napoleon was held in exile the first time. he told me all about his new kitchen that the council is going to put in and i promised i'd make him a lasagna when i come over in November. One thing that was quite nice... He liked the card i sent and could tell it was chosen with thought and said he felt like he has another daughter who lives away so that was nice to hear :) He thinks of his late son's wife as a daughter rather than daughter-in-law but of course he's known her since she was 17.

Sometimes hard to get a word in edgeways and it took me three tries to say good bye :) Aw but he's a lovely man, he is. Loves to talk. Said he likes to talk politics with his mates down at the bookies' and it's a good thing the walls don't have ears or his feet wouldn't touch the ground. I said they'd have you in the Tower for treason and insurrection and that comment led to a discussion on the princes in the Tower! did you know that they are now guessing that the princes were taken to a monastery and killed and buried there? :) That's how conversations seem to go with Bill, one subject rapidly leading in to the next! He's pretty spry for 80 and he's got a little dog and a bird to take care of too.

Cbc's showing season 3 of Doctor Who starting tonight. Nope, as i thought, they aren't starting with the Christmas special with the Runaway Bride. I wonder if they showed it and i didn't catch the ads? They were rerunning season two late at night on weekends for awhile. Doesn't matter, i've already downloaded it and seen it anyway. I'll rewatch the series anyway :)

Further to Yesterday's post about the lottery tickets and scratch tickets, i cashed in my $14 total and got another ticket for Friday night and another scratch ticket. And won another $2.00! With little amounts like that, it's just as simple to get another ticket and see how long my luck runs. I have never gone past 3 tickets in a row counting the first paid one so i'm already one up, this being number 4.

Going to a meal tonight with my best friend J who's in town visiting for two days and then T and i are going to Moncton on the weekend to see her again there. We're leaving Friday night and coming back on Sunday and i've booked a lovely B&B, Archibald B&B. Off season rates of $65 for a room with private bathroom and breakfast, plus taxes. Pretty good. I was expecting about 100 a night.

Ok, then. We went to a corrie ping this lunchtime. Graham said he was fine to go. He slept on the plane and slept some more here so was up and raring to go. Then we went to MOm's where there was a family get together so he could meet some of the family and i could show off.....
( you may need sunglasses )

Oh and i must show you this year's birthday cartoon

( brace yourself )

It's been a long day. I think we're going to relax tonight, maybe get a takeaway that we would have ordered last night had he arrived at a decent hour. We'll have a slow morning i think, and then Justin has offered to upgrade the car a bit as i'm not really that comfortable driving in the little one so we'll do that in the afternoon and browse around the shops. He's planning to get me a new easel for my birthday pressie so i don't have to hunch over the coffee table so we might suss that out, see what Kent has to offer at least. Hmm. Wonder if Wal-mart has them too. could run over there and check as well.

It was so nice to see every one that came to the party at Mom's. It felt like the papparazzi, there were so many cameras going off. I'll get them off the camera maybe in the morning and upload them to an album. Stay tuned.

Aww i had a call from my best friend last night. She just got back from 10 days in London visiting her daughter who is living and working in Islington. It was very hard to leave, she said, and she misses her daughter very much but it's great to be able to picture where she is and the daughter is quite happy there. She's getting ready to go to Ireland to work there for 6 months though she's not sure she really wants to on one hand because she's got a good gig going where she is now. She gets 150 quid a week but she doesn't have to pay rent and food is included too as she's living over a pub. She's hooked on the theatre and can get around the city like a native already. She is a bit homesick and does find that she feels a bit anonymous in such a large city. She's still not sure what she wants to do with her future and wonders if she's not using this 2 year opportunity to avoid things since all her friends are now in uni. I think it was far smarter for her to take the time off, get the chance to live somewhere new and travel before settling down rather than paying for university and then wasting it because it wasn't what she wanted to do. She probably could get this job back when her work visa for Ireland is up in November. She would still have 6 months left on her work visa for the UK.

Anyway, she had her mom's trip all organized and they did stuff every day and saw Mamma Mia and Wicked which also included getting up at 6 a.m. the day after she arrived to go stand in Leicester Square for same day tickets. All part of the experience! Jo also found out that you should ask for "filter" coffee because the coffee shop she went to one morning for a boost gave her the equivalent of somewhat watered down esspresso which had her buzzing and her eyes like saucers all day! She also discovered that Starbucks is very very expensive lol Then again, that was a coffee, a hot chocolate and muffins at the kiosk in Leicester Square. What would you expect? Starbucks is expensive anyway no matter where you are and i don't find their coffee that great.

They had a day trip to Oxford, walked the upper level of Tower Bridge, saw the Crown Jewels, went to service in St. Paul's and saw Westminster Abbey. She liked St. Paul's better, thought the Abbey was awfully crowded inside, smaller than it looked because of all the "stuff". She finally got to go to Past Times, having seen the catalogues and gifts that i've brought back over the years and timed it right because she got stuff on sale! Oddly though, there doesn't seem to be any branches in London anymore, not even in Heathrow.

Now she's got to figure out how to get the photos out of the digital camera and online somewhere. I can hardly wait to see them!

I think i need a new back. It's not gone wonky on me but it usually does have an ache in the morning no matter how i sleep on it, some mornings more than others and for some reason, i was very wakeful last night. Tossing and turning and very warm which is probably what kept waking me up. You just can't win! If i sleep in one position most of the night, it aches. If i toss and turn, it aches. It loosens up through the day, just in time to go to bed again. I think i will get in for an adjustment today, though and i really think i may call oceannadelamer for an aromatherapy massage soon.

Having lunch with blueberrymoon today! I bought one of her paintings, the one of a VW bug, and she's personally delivering it :) My best friend loves those cars and her husband bought her a 1959 Bug for Christmas so when i saw the painting i had to get it for her. Her birthday is in March. I don't think i can wait until Christmas to give it to her though i would like to wait. It's great when Christmas presents really have that "Oh Wow!" factor but i probably will be too excited to give it to her to wait that long. That same friend is flying to London tonight to visit her daughter who's working there on a Student's Working Abroad program. She's really excited as it's her first time there plus has really missed her daughter who's been gone since September. Said daughter is having a grand old time, taking day trips on her days off, seeing lots of musicals and plays and she even joined the American Choir and sang in St. Paul's Cathedral for the American Thanksgiving last November!

Word of the Day: Star-gazers. In 1889, that word was a slang word for "ladies of the pavement who walk by night, not so much, however, to study the heavenly bodies as to dispose of their own". This is also the feast day of St. Vitalis who, according to legend, spent any extra money he earned on the star-gazers. But not what you'd think! He'd engage them and then pray for them in their rooms. Allegedly. I don't know if that included exclamations of Oh God!!!!!