Feeling Good that Spring is Here

March 28th

Red Lane Ainsworth 

A cottage wall garden

Hello again, I cannot believe another month has whizzed  by again so fast and we have not seen any snow and Spring has certainly arrived …its lambing season already. I took a walk today and captured a few spring flowers growing by the side of the road.

Thinking about my brother today its his birthday and he is going through a very tough time, his wife is seriously ill in hospital and needs your prayers. I feel so helpless living so far away from them but what gives me strength is knowing they are well supported by good friends and neighbours.

Shortage of Fence Panels

Finally found some fence panels for sale, ordered 4 pm Monday they arrived 2 pm Tuesday, most impressed with the price too.  An uneventful couple of week except for the brilliant blue skies and sunshine we are having  alternating with usual cold wet windy days, its crazy weather..
I enjoyed pegging out my washing in the sunshine this week, it really felt good, the clothes smell so fresh and are soon dry. I can see the garden is slowly waking up, Spring has arrived, there are  lots of buds on the trees and  the pussy willow soon will be out, then comes the task of clearing the garden and paths of its fluffy droppings .  The Camellia, Forsythia and Hydrangeas are looking good and lots of daffodils are in full bloom although they are somewhat wind blown,stayed out on the garden for a while and pottered about.

Finally got around to booking a  holiday my friend Dorothy and I will be joining another PTG Rail and Culture Tour around the region of Catalonia Northern Spain and going into Southern France. Our last holiday with them was through Southern France and the Catalan Region of Spain so its almost a continuation of our last holiday.  Really looking forward to getting away to some constant sunshine.

Go see PTG Tours

Went along to another Web Master Class at Lancashire Federation Headquarters this month and  this time it was less confusing and I managed to get my web page finished. There are 2,58000 members of the National Federation of  Women’s Institute comprising of 69  Federation in England, Lancashire is one of the largest with 156  WI’s under its authority. It is a huge task placing every individual WI website onto the National site, but it is happening……

The National Federation of Womens Institute

Attended  the NHS Retirement Group this month to hear a retired Probation Officer talk about his job in the 1960. He was  very interesting to listen to and it was very evident that society in the 1960s was not as complicated as life is today and the probation service in the 60s dealt with many social problems as well as crime.
At the ladies group this week we heard from  a BBC Journalist Kevin Fitzpatrick who was very entertaining, he should have been a comedian as he kept us in stitches all evening.

Finally got round to having my hair cut and coloured.   I toy with the idea of letting it grow about once a year,  then one day I look into the mirror and say no that isn’t me .!  So  I am back, happy to be looking myself again.

I had a wonderful surprise my youngest son bought me a slide converter for Mothers day. I have talked about converting our vast collection of colour slides into JPG format and burning them on to a DVD for ages and its proving to be so simple …. Brilliant.  Thanks Stu I love it..

Time to sign off,  goodbye for now my friends.

The March Wind doth Blow

                                                                 

                                                                                                                        

Go see

                                                                     
“It’s not the years in your life that counts .
It’s the life in your years.”

I don’t know who penned this but I like it. Having just celebrated a phenomenal birthday on
St. Valentines Day ...  Yes I had a wonderful birthday, busy  as usual,two birthday lunches
and a family dinner that my youngest son prepared, he is a brilliant  cook !
I really do appreciate all  my family and friends, they are my anchors in a sometimes stormy sea.

 The stormy weather has since abated but last week I lost three fence panels during a hurricane (108 miles per hour)  it was an horrendous storm and because of the demand for new fencing through the UK the stores are completely out  but I will try again soon..   Also my garage door was banging about, it was terrible  so I padded it with cloth, filled all the gaps to stop it  twisting about and it worked. Lots of properties where damaged with trees falling into the road and onto homes lots of electricity pylons came down again and it was the south  of England that suffered the most with coastal landslides, homes washed into the sea and more flooding.. 

But now we have enjoyed  blue skies and  sunshine these past few days, a welcome change from  grey skies wind and rain. Because of the good weather I drove up to Harrogate to see my family. I took the Motorway to avoid potential hazards on the way through the  Yorkshire Dales. It is a wonderful drive whatever the season but prone to flooding over the past few years.  I was once caught up in the flooded fields just outside Skipton in a brand new car, water up to my ankles but she sailed right through, the water was so clean there was no evidence of the incident I was so lucky.

Attended the Hypnotherapy Talk at the Ladies Circle and realised that for 20years I had been using the same technique the therapist used on his clients to relax my expectant mothers, prior to and during Childbirth.  He really put a spoke in the Stage Hypnotists  Act,when he explained how they worked to fool the audience. ???  
Speakers Club this month was book readings, we where asked to bring a book and read aloud for 3minutes followed by another 3minute read from someone else‘s  book. It was entertaining listening to the varied  selections and was a good exercise.  I chose Stephen Fry’s   “The Ode Less Travelled”  It’s an idiots guide to writing poetry. Simply because I feel some  do not appreciate Poetry as much as I do and it was well received. Then I read an excerpt from  “Nella Last’s War”  -   WW2  Housewife’s War Diaries. My other contribution was a few words from Winnie the Pooh. We also had a social event  later in the month a Beetle Drive and supper,  that was good fun.

Our annual Women’s Institute’s visit to the University Catering Department for a  Silver Service Lunch didn’t disappoint , the student waiters where excellent, it was a meal to remember  and for such a small price..    It was very difficult to chose as there where three choices all very enticing.
My starter was chicken and black pudding stack, it was delicious.
 I love blood puddings ! They are a Lancashire delicacy.
 For my Main course I chose Calves Liver + gravy , peppers, peas & onions, duchesse potatoes and  mash.  Very tasty.    Dessert was phenomenal a Chocolate cup cake filled with chocolate cream (very light) covered with cherry sauce and accompanied with white chocolate ice cream, I savoured every mouth full it was delicious….  followed by coffee, the best meal yet.

Went to see the War Horse Thursday evening at the cinema, it was a live feed from the National Theatre in London .  The  puppetry was incredible you soon got used to not  seeing the puppet masters that where inside the shell of the horse . It was a magnificent production very different,  a huge emotional story I loved it…..

"So goodbye again, I am sorry to be leaving you, goodbye again as if you didn't know its goodbye again"    John Denver         



       National Theatre Stage Play : The War Horse