JUST SAYING HELLO!

Am not getting very much time for blogging at the moment! We spend quite a lot of time at the club, swimming or playing tennis. When we have been at home, my husband has been on the computer a lot. The days when I could use the computer whenever I wanted are long gone!

We are off to Croatia next Friday (although we are spending the Thursday night at a B&B near Stansted). Have got so much to do before we go……….. will never be ready on time! Gotta get back to the ironing now, in fact! Think I am looking forward to Croatia, although it will of course remind me of what happened when we were there the last time!!

Next Monday is, of course, Halloween – and our daughter’s 31st birthday! Where on earth did the years go?

Anyway, that’s all I have time for now. If you don’t hear from me before, I might get a chance to blog from Croatia when we are there, depending on whether I get free Internet accesss on my kindle okay. It was alright at the beginning of our holiday in August, but then let us down badly just when Sandy was ill and we needed to keep in constant touch with our son. The Internet connection seemed to get bad at the same time as the weather became much hotter, so hopefully it might be okay again now it is winter. Otherwise, you can pay for wireless access from the hotel: I have no idea how much this costs, but these places usually seem to charge too much for it!

Will talk soon…….

US AGAINST THE WORLD

This is the Coldplay concert I saw live from my bed in a B&B in Kent on the 9th July – the day after my 60th birthday.

And this is the song that made me decide I just HAD to get their new album…..

Oh morning 
Come bursting
The clouds amen
Lift off this blindfold, let me see again
And bring back the water that your ships rode in
In my heart she left a hole

The tightrope that I'm walking just sways and ties
The devil as he's talking with those angel's eyes
And I just want to be there when the lightning strikes
And the saints go marching in

And sing
Slow-owow-owow-owow-it down
Through chaos as it swirls 
It's just us against the world

Like a river to a raindrop 
I lost a friend
My drunken has a Daniel in a lion's den
And tonight I know it all has to begin again
So whatever you do, don't let go

And if we could float away
Fly up to the surface 
And just start again
And lift off before trouble just erodes us in the rain 
Just erodes us in the rain
Just erodes us, and see roses in the rain

Sing 
Slow-owow-owow-owow-it down 
Oh, slow-owow-owow-owow-it down

Through chaos as it swirls
It's us against the world

Through chaos as it swirls
It's us against the world

DOG POETRY: PART 11

Gene Hill Dog Quote

This one really made me cry! Sandy was all this to me…… and more!

He is my other eyes that can see above the clouds; my other ears that hear above the winds. He is the part of me that can reach out into the sea. He has told me a thousand times over that I am his reason for being; by the way he rests against my leg; by the way he thumps his tail at my smallest smile; by the way he shows his hurt when I leave without taking him. (I think it makes him sick with worry when he is not along to care for me.)

When I am wrong, he is delighted to forgive. When I am angry, he clowns to make me smile. When I am happy, he is joy unbounded. When I am a fool, he ignores it. When I succeed, he brags. Without him, I am only another man. With him, I am all-powerful. He is loyalty itself.

He has taught me the meaning of devotion. With him, I know a secret comfort and a private peace. He has brought me understanding where before I was ignorant.

His head on my knee can heal my human hurts. His presence by my side is protection against my fears of dark and unknown things. He has promised to wait for me… whenever… wherever — in case I need him. And I expect I will — as I always have. He is just my dog.

From Tears and Laughter by Gene Hill

COLDPLAY

For me, my past life is always remembered via music – and this past summer was definitely the summer of Coldplay! After my 60th birthday, my husband took me away for a couple of nights and on the first night in Kent, I watched Coldplay on TV playing somewhere in Scotland. It was such a great concert and I so wished I could have been there!

Tomorrow, Coldplay’s new album is – at long last – going on sale (I pre-ordered my copy from iTunes some time ago!).

Here’s a little preview of ‘Paradise’. I so love this song……

When she was just a girl
She expected the world
But it flew away from her reach so
She ran away in her sleep
And dreamed of
Para-para-paradise, Para-para-paradise, Para-para-paradise
Every time she closed her eyes

When she was just a girl
She expected the world
But it flew away from her reach
And the bullets catch in her teeth
Life goes on, it gets so heavy
The wheel breaks the butterfly
Every tear a waterfall
In the night the stormy night she’ll close her eyes
In the night the stormy night away she’d fly
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/c/coldplay/paradise_20980626.html ]
And dreams of
Para-para-paradise
Para-para-paradise
Para-para-paradise
Oh oh oh oh oh oh-oh-oh
She’d dream of
Para-para-paradise
Para-para-paradise
Para-para-paradise
Oh oh oh oh oh oh-oh-oh-oh

La-la-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
And so lying underneath those stormy skies
She’d say, “oh, ohohohoh I know the sun must set to rise”

This could be
Para-para-paradise
Para-para-paradise
This could be
Para-para-paradise
Oh oh oh oh oh oh-oh-oh
This could be
Para-para-paradise
Para-para-paradise
This could be
Para-para-paradise
Oh oh oh oh oh oh-oh-oh-oh

DOG POETRY: PART 10

I noticed an ad in our local newspaper on Saturday. It was amongst all the ads for pet products, so it was sheer luck that I spotted it. It was actually an ‘in memoriam’ entry for a golden retriever called Millie who was born on the 14th May 2000 and died on the 29th October 2011. There was a picture of the dog – who looked a bit like Sandy – and there was this poem: –

When God had made the earth and sky,
The flowers and the trees,
He then made all the animals,
The fish, the birds and bees.

And when at last He’d finished,
Not one was quite the same,
God said, “I’ll walk this earth of mine,
And give each one a name.”

And so He traveled far and wide,
And everywhere He went,
A little creature followed Him,
Until its strength was spent.

When all were named upon the earth,
And in the sky and sea,
The little creature said, “Dear Lord,
There’s not one left for me.”

Kindly the Father said to him,
“I’ve left you to the end,
I’ve turned my own name back to front,
And call you DOG, my friend.”