I have always enjoyed reading the blog entries from ladies who participate in The Simple Woman's Day Book so I thought I would give it a go. It seems a lovely way to begin a very very wet and windy Tuesday morning!



FOR TODAY
Outside my window...
The rain is pouring, it really is like November out there! Come back Springtime!!

I am thinking...
Of my special someone. We have some major issues to deal with at the moment. It's tough being grown up!

I am thankful for...
My friends. I know I go on and on about how wonderful my friends are - but the support and love I get from the wonderful women in my life is quite astounding. You know who you are!

From the kitchen...
I am going to eat the rest of my Carluccio's Spinach and Cheese Balls They really are so good!

I am wearing...
Good job the fashion police aren't on duty today! I have a short pink nighty that used to belong to my mother, big thick white socks and a grey and blue dressing gown.

I am creating...
I need to change the ink on my computer today as I have to make a card for my lovely friend.

I am going...
Nowhere exciting today - I have to go to the library to return some dvds and I will also pop to the Post Office. I would love to say I was meeting Colin Firth for lunch at The Ritz but alas ......

I am reading...
Natasha's Will by Joan Lingard. I started this about midnight last night, it's a YA novel which I received from a friend on Saturday. I am only two chapters into it at the moment but I am really enjoying it. It's set partly in modern day and partly in 1917 St Petersburg.

I am hoping...
That my wish/prayer will come true.

I am hearing...
The kettle boil - yippee! Coffee!

Around the house...
It is all tidy, I did a big splurge yesterday. I even went through my toiletries cabinet and decluttered, which I have been meaning to do for ages.


A few plans for the rest of the week:
Not quite sure yet. I might be meeting up with a lovely friend. I do need to go to the doctor's to get some eczema cream as it is flaring up again and, of course, there is that lunch with Colin Firth.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

Pa Ingalls went Commando!

I read Alison "Nellie Oleson" Arngrim's autobiography a few days ago. I loved it! Admittedly, parts of it were very dark, and I admit that there were parts that really shocked me. Some of her Little House gossip was hilarious - yep, Michael Landon didn't wear any underwear!! He was very vain and when he did "topless" shots his braces had to be just so to make sure his nipples were shown. Alison came across as a really likeable person, down to earth and with a really big heart. What I found most entertaining was her pure dislike of Melissa Sue Anderson, who played Mary. Mind you, if her tales of MSA are true then one really can't blame her - she sounds a real haughty princess type. But Alison and Melissa "Laura" Gilbert were best friends from the start. I find out now that both Melissas have also got autobiographies out. Alas I am unable to buy any books until Lent it over - yep, two whole weeks and not a single book purchase but they have been added to my wishlist! It sounds as if Melissa Gilbert's doesn't really include as much of her life on LHOTP as the other two do, which is a shame. I'm really looking forward to seeing what MSA says about Alison. :-)

Hope

I have heard some horrible news from three different friends around the world in the last few days. All of them life changing, for the worse, for them and especially their children. Isn't it horrible when you can't do anything to help people you care about? I just haven't been able to get these situations out of my mind.

Add to this the horrific situations in Japan and Libya ....... so so much sadness.

I send my prayers, my love and my sincere sympathy.

I admit to having been a real emotional wreck over the last few years. I have been on a rollercoaster of the scariest type. Abusive marriage, marriage break up, moving back to UK, meeting someone new, cancelling wedding due to father's illness, father's death and now a few other things. There are people who have been there all the time for me - never judging (well, at least not to my face ;-) ) and always ready to listen and give me advice. What would I do without you all? I have an amazing bunch of friends all around the world and I am so thankful for you. If only I could win the lottery and have a big party with the most amazing women on earth. I *am* turning the corner now and I am ready to go full steam ahead - but I couldn't have done it without you all.



A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be.~ Douglas Pagels

A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world. ~Leo Buscaglia

Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things. ~Author Unknown

A good friend is cheaper than therapy. ~Author Unknown

A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails. ~Donna Roberts

Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art.... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival. ~C.S. Lewis


Constant use will not wear ragged the fabric of friendship. ~Dorothy Parker


Some people go to priests; others to poetry; I to my friends. ~Virginia Woolf


There are big ships and small ships. But the best ship of all is friendship. ~Author Unknown


The best kind of friend is the one you could sit on a porch with, never saying a word, and walk away feeling like that was the best conversation you've had.
~Author Unknown


If you're alone, I'll be your shadow. If you want to cry, I'll be your shoulder. If you want a hug, I'll be your pillow. If you need to be happy, I'll be your smile. But anytime you need a friend, I'll just be me. ~Author Unknown

and this is especially true to me ......


There is magic in long-distance friendships. They let you relate to other human beings in a way that goes beyond being physically together and is often more profound. ~Diana Cortes

Smile, It's Springtime!

Spring is on the way - I bought some lovely daffodils on Saturday and they bloomed overnight and look gorgeous. I've just made some yummy pancakes and smothered them in Nutella - I am giving up chocolate and buying books (even really really cheap secondhand ones)tomorrow for Lent so I had one more chocolatey treat!

I miss Spring in my old Canadian home. I lived a few minutes walk away from Beacon Hill Park and used to spend many hours walking around looking at the gorgeous flowers, stopping in the petting zoo to see and brush the baby goats and then carry on towards the ocean. It was easy to feel God around me. I can totally agree with Anne of Green Gables .....

"Why must people kneel down to pray?" If I really wanted to pray I'll tell you what I'd do. I'd go out into a great big field all alone or into the deep, deep, woods, and I'd look up into the sky--up--up--up--into that lovely blue sky that looks as if there was no end to its blueness. And then I'd just FEEL a prayer."

Yes, I miss having natural beauty all around me. The area where I live now is drab and grey. But when I feel down I keep on focussing on Mary Engelbreit's wise words .......



I do hope that I have a room with a view again one day but until then I will try try try to bloom where I am planted.


"An optimist is the human personification of spring." ~Susan Bissonnette

Nighties in the News

I don't know when my fascination for Edward and Mrs Simpson started. Most of my interests in famous people stem from a viewing of a documentary or an article in a newspaper or even a docudrama. I know when my interest in Anne Frank, Anastasia Romanov, Amelia Earhart, The Mitford Sisters started but I cannot pinpoint the commencement of my interest in Wallis and David. Oooh, it's just come to me - how bizarre!! It started around 1977, the Queen's Jubilee Year, when we had a competition in school to produce a scrap book celebrating the Queen's life. I was only 7 so I had help from my mother - this was before the days of the internet. ( I used to love doing projects - scurrying around to three libraries and cutting up newspapers and magazines. I feel sorry for children now who will never have that pleasure - the internet has some bad points. Does that make me sound mad? ) I think that in one of Mum's women's magazines there was an article and it mentioned how the queen could have had a very different life if her uncle hadn't given up the throne. Gosh, I totally remember this now! Mum ended up telling me about the abdication and the queen's father coming to the throne.

In my teens I found it so romantic that a king would give up the throne for the woman he loved. Although I can't say that, having read a lot of books and watched every documentary going about them over the years, that I particularly liked them. However, they were just so interesting and their love for each other was so deep. Their life of excess was unbelievable. They are back in the news this week because Mohammed Al Fayed, who bought their home in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris, is sending a collection of Wallis' lingerie, handbags and luggage to auction. Her jewellery sale a number of years ago raised record breaking sums - although most of it was so vulgar and *bling*. Who can forget that leopard monstrosity?! But I must admit if I had a few extra £1000000s laying around I might buy one of her simply divine nightdresses. Wallis wrote "My husband gave up everything for me… I'm not a beautiful woman. I'm nothing to look at, so the only thing I can do is dress better than anyone else. If everyone looks at me when I enter a room, my husband can feel proud of me. That's my chief responsibility."

Hard life eh? I am really looking forward to the movie Madonna is producing based on Wallis. I wonder if Madge will make a bid for these?

My Favourite Cake!

Clementine Cake - courtesy of Nigella Lawson

I made this yesterday - oooh what a gorgeous aroma wafted through the house! I have made it once before, a few years ago, and just adored it.

INGREDIENTS
4-5 clementines (about 375g total weight)
6 eggs
225g sugar
250g ground almonds
1 heaped teaspoon baking powder


METHOD
Put the clementines in a pan with some cold water, bring to the boil and cook for 2 hours. Drain and, when cool, cut each clementine in half and remove the pips.
Dump the clementines - skins, pith, fruit and all - and give a quick blitz. Then tip in all the remaining ingredients and pulse to a pulp.

Preheat the oven to gas mark 5/190ºC. Butter and line a 21cm Springform tin.
Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin and bake for an hour, when a skewer will come out clean; you'll probably have to cover with foil or greaseproof after about 40 minutes to stop the top burning. Remove from the oven and leave to cool, on a rack, but in the tin.

Put the kettle on, then pour yourself a cup of tea in your favourite mug, cut a slice of cake, pick up a favourite book and .. relax!


Staying on the subject of food - I had my first box from www.graze.com this morning. Alas my box took an extra day to arrive - stupid Royal Mail - but I was thrilled with it! I had The Super Berry Detox, Jaffa Cake, Great Fire Dragon and Cherry Tomato, basil and puglian pesto focaccia. It arrived in a really compact box with a personalised cute info booklet showing all the nutritional values - including carbs :-) I really really loved it. You can try a box for free by visiting the site and quoting X4DPYBJ3 which will also give you 50% off box 2. :-) They even include a napkin - and everything is recyclable. Give it a try!