We were invited to a surprise 50th birthday party at the weekend of someone who was in the youth group when I was one of the leaders. We have stayed in contact over the last 30 years, mainly by Christmas cards but more recently we meet regularly at a cafe halfway between our homes, having both moved to Wales; her shortly after her marriage and us more recently.
I know her parents and both her brothers and sisters-in-law but wasn't expecting to know anyone else. However, when I looked at the table plan, I recognised the names of others on our table; two of which were also in the youth group and the two other ladies were school friends whom I didn't recognise at first but realised that they were school friends of the birthday girl who occasionally came to the larger youth group events.
Between the four ladies on our table, I had made two wedding dresses and a total of five bridesmaids dresses! with another wedding dress and three bridesmaids dresses in the room! and some still had their dresses all these years later.
It was lovely to reminisce and also to catch up on each other's news.
Tuesday, 2 September 2014
Wednesday, 9 July 2014
there's life in the old gal yet!
well I hope there is in me, although I do need to rest not necessarily the day after I have done something but usually the day after that! On Sunday I took the service at Chapel and was fine on Monday thoroughly enjoying book club (but I don't think anyone thought it was a good book!) but yesterday although I had planned on going to Cardiff for a day out, I decided to postpone my visit till later in the week and instead just take it easy. Taking it easy often means doing some sewing!
I had saved some full length and matching shorter curtains from a previous house, some of which were then used for a while by my eldest and some used here temporarily in a bedroom and are now being altered to fit our conservatory which came with the house. Unfortunately it neither has roof opening windows or enough fan lights and can get very hot especially in this glorious summer we are having!
And then as I was at full speed on the old sewing machine, all of a sudden with the actual machine still going, it stopped sewing! The drive belt had broken!
Fortunately, I know a 'man who does' and he was able to replace the drive belt with one I had spare when the last one snapped about 15 years ago, when the machine was already over 25 years old. I had bought the machine back in the early 1970s with the proceeds of making yet another wedding dress - up until then I had been using my Mum's Singer which she had had 2nd hand for her 21st birthday. I had the handle removed and a machine put in its place.
Just after the first drive belt broke, I again used the proceeds from a large wedding order to buy an up to date machine which did all the fancy embroidery stitches, as I needed to always have a spare machine if I was making an dress for a certain date!
But after a few years, I reverted to my old machine as it is made of metal so is sturdy and fast! and I'm sure that there are more years in her yet!
I had saved some full length and matching shorter curtains from a previous house, some of which were then used for a while by my eldest and some used here temporarily in a bedroom and are now being altered to fit our conservatory which came with the house. Unfortunately it neither has roof opening windows or enough fan lights and can get very hot especially in this glorious summer we are having!
And then as I was at full speed on the old sewing machine, all of a sudden with the actual machine still going, it stopped sewing! The drive belt had broken!
Fortunately, I know a 'man who does' and he was able to replace the drive belt with one I had spare when the last one snapped about 15 years ago, when the machine was already over 25 years old. I had bought the machine back in the early 1970s with the proceeds of making yet another wedding dress - up until then I had been using my Mum's Singer which she had had 2nd hand for her 21st birthday. I had the handle removed and a machine put in its place.
Just after the first drive belt broke, I again used the proceeds from a large wedding order to buy an up to date machine which did all the fancy embroidery stitches, as I needed to always have a spare machine if I was making an dress for a certain date!
But after a few years, I reverted to my old machine as it is made of metal so is sturdy and fast! and I'm sure that there are more years in her yet!
Monday, 7 July 2014
I'm here again!
I realise that I have not done much blogging over recent months. It's not that I have not got anything to say, but when I do have, I seem to be very busy. And when I have time, nothing much has happened!
This morning I am off to our village book club. The book we have been reading caused much discussion at our summer barbeque a couple of weeks ago. The author writes about her experiences growing up in the valleys and then working as a nurse in our local hospital. At first I found the book fascinating but then became quiet worried because although she has disguised people she met by changing their names - it seems that it is obvious to those who have also worked in the hospital, as to whom she is referring!
I look forward to continuing our discussion!
Some of you will know that I am a diabetic - not through eating the wrong foods but through the stress of the break-up of my first marriage. Each morning, and also at meal times, I inject myself - this is usually pain-free but sometimes as I pull out the needle it is followed by some blood. And this morning it did just that and as I reached for a tissue up my sleeve wile holding the injection pen with the other hand and also trying to hold my clean pale lavender coloured shirt out of the way... wait! I don't have three hands! the shirt slipped and I had a large blob of blood on my shirt.
One very useful trick I was taught by an elderly dress maker - actually I think she must have been younger than I am now - when I first when out to work in design studios as a sample maker was that your own saliva is the best thing to remove blood. I have lost count of the number of wedding dresses that I have suck! And my shirt this morning now has no sign of blood or being sucked.
This morning I am off to our village book club. The book we have been reading caused much discussion at our summer barbeque a couple of weeks ago. The author writes about her experiences growing up in the valleys and then working as a nurse in our local hospital. At first I found the book fascinating but then became quiet worried because although she has disguised people she met by changing their names - it seems that it is obvious to those who have also worked in the hospital, as to whom she is referring!
I look forward to continuing our discussion!
Some of you will know that I am a diabetic - not through eating the wrong foods but through the stress of the break-up of my first marriage. Each morning, and also at meal times, I inject myself - this is usually pain-free but sometimes as I pull out the needle it is followed by some blood. And this morning it did just that and as I reached for a tissue up my sleeve wile holding the injection pen with the other hand and also trying to hold my clean pale lavender coloured shirt out of the way... wait! I don't have three hands! the shirt slipped and I had a large blob of blood on my shirt.
One very useful trick I was taught by an elderly dress maker - actually I think she must have been younger than I am now - when I first when out to work in design studios as a sample maker was that your own saliva is the best thing to remove blood. I have lost count of the number of wedding dresses that I have suck! And my shirt this morning now has no sign of blood or being sucked.
Wednesday, 7 May 2014
I keep being surprised ...
.. by the chapel folk here! Today was the funeral of the mother of one of our members. Her Mum lived a good hour's drive away and a small service was held in their local Chapel of Rest for her friends and carers. An hour later there was a service in the crematorium just half an hour's drive away from us. Nine friends from our chapel (about half our usual congregation) joined the very small family group for the service. I am only aware of one of our ladies having actually met her Mum! But around here folk gather around to love and support those going through a tough time whether it is the loss of a loved one or any other family difficulty. I am surrounded by a lovely bunch of folk.
Monday, 5 May 2014
yesterday we shut up shop...
...just for the morning. We decided that we would not hold our usual service in the chapel but drive over the border into England and join in the service of one of the other churches in our Rural Churches group, where we heard Judy Cook speak about her work as a missionary in Thailand. I met Judy on her last visit back to the UK but this time she brought four of her fellow workers with her. Their English was far better than my Thai!
Hopefully I will meet Judy and her co-Thai-workers again next weekend when we are all planning to be at the Baptist Assembly.
One of our members who would not be able to cope with the journey and longer service went to our chapel to forward any who had not realised the change - or to give them the option of returning in the afternoon when we had our quarterly service of prayer for healing.
We are small in numbers; usually around 15 - 20 on a Sunday morning but 11 of us went to the morning service and 10 came in the afternoon. I'm not usually someone who counts heads, as I'm just as happy preaching to three or four as I am to fifty as I believe that those who need to hear what I believe God has given me to say will be there, but it was encouraging to have a good turn out for something different!
Hopefully I will meet Judy and her co-Thai-workers again next weekend when we are all planning to be at the Baptist Assembly.
One of our members who would not be able to cope with the journey and longer service went to our chapel to forward any who had not realised the change - or to give them the option of returning in the afternoon when we had our quarterly service of prayer for healing.
We are small in numbers; usually around 15 - 20 on a Sunday morning but 11 of us went to the morning service and 10 came in the afternoon. I'm not usually someone who counts heads, as I'm just as happy preaching to three or four as I am to fifty as I believe that those who need to hear what I believe God has given me to say will be there, but it was encouraging to have a good turn out for something different!
Wednesday, 23 April 2014
at long last
It's nearly five years since we moved in here. When we first viewed the house we were rather disappointed to find that the previous occupants had moved the bathroom into one of the bedrooms and had also painted a mural over the whole of one wall and the door!
We moved the bathroom back to where it belonged (actually we got a couple of men to do it!) and the bedroom became a dumping ground for several years while we slowly worked out what fitted into the new house and what needed to find a new home. Over those years if we finished painting elsewhere and still had spare paint on the brush we would paint the excess over the mural!
And then about two years ago, I had time and energy to start turning the dumping ground into a proper bedroom but was halted by an unknown problem with our boiler. The painting was done (slowly!) but no carpet could be put down as many water pipes ran under the floor. At the end of last year a new boiler was installed and at the beginning of this year a carpet was put down.
And yesterday pictures were hung! The room is finished at last. The main bedroom still has to be decorated - I wonder how long that will take! The photo below shows the wall underneath which is the dark mural! My eagle-eyed daughter can still see the outline of the trees and 'castle'!
And in case you are intrigued; the piece of furniture covered in an old green sheet is a zed-bed! Above the bed is an embroidered picture titled 'Fishing in fairy-land' made for me by my Mum when I was little and hung on my bedroom wall until the day I was married!
We moved the bathroom back to where it belonged (actually we got a couple of men to do it!) and the bedroom became a dumping ground for several years while we slowly worked out what fitted into the new house and what needed to find a new home. Over those years if we finished painting elsewhere and still had spare paint on the brush we would paint the excess over the mural!And then about two years ago, I had time and energy to start turning the dumping ground into a proper bedroom but was halted by an unknown problem with our boiler. The painting was done (slowly!) but no carpet could be put down as many water pipes ran under the floor. At the end of last year a new boiler was installed and at the beginning of this year a carpet was put down.
And yesterday pictures were hung! The room is finished at last. The main bedroom still has to be decorated - I wonder how long that will take! The photo below shows the wall underneath which is the dark mural! My eagle-eyed daughter can still see the outline of the trees and 'castle'!
Tuesday, 4 March 2014
birthdays
I forgot it was mine this morning! and was reminded when 'someone' started singing, "you're as old as me..ee, you're as old as me!" "Please don't remind me!"
I've got to that age when I cannot believe how many years I have lived!
I celebrated quite quietly, going out to coffee this morning and having my favourite meal at lunchtime - fish curry. As a child, our family didn't have the money to have parties but we were able to choose what we all ate for dinner and my choice was always cod curry. I think my Mum got the recipe from Philip Harben, who was a celebrity chef even before the days of Fanny Cradock! The rest of the day has been taken up with doing the washing, letter writing, answering emails and watching a bit of tele while knitting! Gone are the days of parties and big meals out, I enjoyed them but I think that in just a few ways I'm showing my age!
I've got to that age when I cannot believe how many years I have lived!
I celebrated quite quietly, going out to coffee this morning and having my favourite meal at lunchtime - fish curry. As a child, our family didn't have the money to have parties but we were able to choose what we all ate for dinner and my choice was always cod curry. I think my Mum got the recipe from Philip Harben, who was a celebrity chef even before the days of Fanny Cradock! The rest of the day has been taken up with doing the washing, letter writing, answering emails and watching a bit of tele while knitting! Gone are the days of parties and big meals out, I enjoyed them but I think that in just a few ways I'm showing my age!
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