Come away with the raggle taggle gypsy-o
It’s Sunday post time again and this week Jakes Challenge is Stairway. There will be lots of entries to see including Jakes wonderful animations, here – http://jakesprinters.wordpress.com/2012/02/04/sunday-post/
And this is my post, Khuldera in the Thar desert.
Cathy over at a nomad in the land of nizwa tagged me in 11 questions and because I liked them I’m going to do it this time!
http://catbirdinoman.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/tag-youre-it-11-questions/
Here are Cathy’s questions:
1. When was the last time you told someone honestly how you felt?
Three hours ago when working with a very special woman who has made incredible changes in her life. You know who you are and how proud I am of you 🙂
2. What is something or someone you miss most from your childhood?
Dora. She was constant.
3. What song will be forever connected with an important event or person in your life?
Wash me clean by KD Lang. Explain. It’s a song that marked a huge transition in my life.
4. What three things in nature do you find most beautiful?
I love orchards, any tree that looks beautiful in blossom , bears delicious fruit and then reveals its structure before doing it all again.
The sea, I can stare at it for hours. The one I liked best was the the South Atlantic off of Ghana when I realised there was no land fall between me and the Antarctic.
5. What scares you most and why?
The usual things like rats, insects and snakes. Not because of the creatures themselves exactly, more because you don’t know where they are or when they will creep up on you!
6. What was the year you were most happy and why?
This year, its better than last year which was better then the year before which was better than the year before which was … you get the picture!
7. What is your favorite part of the human face and why?
No surprises here – the eyes have it, so much is revealed.
8. What was the hardest thing you ever had to do?
Say goodbye to my father knowing that I wouldn’t see him again.
9. What kind of food do you like best: sweet, salty, savory? Give an example.
Sweet, mango!
10. What is the last movie you watched and how did you feel about it?
Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, loved it. It brought memories of India back to flood my senses.
11. Are you usually late, early, or right on time?
Pretty much on time – boring!
So, some questions from me.
1. Is there an item that you never leave home without, if so what is it?
2. If you were given a free holiday is there a destination you would refuse to go to?
3. Did you have a school uniform? describe it!
4. Do you still have friends from your school days?
5. Have you ever tried any extreme sports/
6. Whats the longest you have slept in one go?
7. From what you know about me is there a book you would recommend?
8. Could you ride a skateboard for a hundred metres without falling off?
9. Favourite breakfast?
10. Can you navigate on a journey to a strange town a few hundred miles away?
11. Is there something you cook really well?
I’m not going to tag anyone specific but I would love it if you, yes YOU, answered my questions.
A really difficult one this week because I usually delete photos like this as being too bleached out!
Now, I know that at least two of my blogging friends are Red Hat Society ladies, you know who you are over in Oregon, but at the weekend I met a real live one myself. Carol, whose Hatter name is Countess Caroline, had a table displaying her gorgeous handmade fascinators, many of which she has created for mellow hatters (I just invented mellow because fellow sounded too masculine for Hatty ladies). Once Carol told me she was involved in this craziness I just had to learn more.
She began by telling me that they are all show offs! ‘You almost have to be’ she said, ‘and I’ve always been a showy off person myself’, I don’t know about that, but she is certainly a very attractive and outgoing lady who loves to chat. As well as the red hats they wear purple clothes when they meet up in their ‘Chapters’. Most of them are middlies but you can still join in your forties, then you are a Pinkie with lilac clothes and pink hats. At fifty you are invested with scarlet sparkles or a wand. Carol is one of the one hundred members of the Riviera Royals, whose leader is Princess Cockington.
When the ladies meet up they go on a ‘Hoot’, days out, concerts, shows and balls, and men are never allowed. Occasionally other chapters are invited to a soiree, to which they often travel using their bus passes, fully hatted and gowned. They have big conventions and she has been known to attend as a St Trinians girl.
During a ladies birthday month, they dress in reverse, red clothes and purple hats. There’s a whole world of red hatters out there with dedicated internet shopping sites. Some hatters have appeared on the Vanessa show, I would imagine Ms Feltz would be in her element.
Carol told me that she went on her own to her very first meeting and that from the start she felt welcome. ‘I’ve found that women can be bitchy, but never felt that in the Red Hatters. I think it’s because of our age, there are no grudges, it’s a sisterhood. No one minds disgraceful behaviour. Even out for coffee we wear our hats. It’s supportive as well as fun, caring for each other through bereavement, watching out for each other’s well being and remembering little details.’
For last year’s Royal Wedding they celebrated at a lovely local restaurant. They watched together, all dressed to the nines waving flags, as if they were actually there. Carol has immaculately painted nails and not a hair out of place. Last year the chapter went to Ladies day at Ascot, what a sight they must have been, but as it was £3-400, this year they will be going to Newton Abbot. I have no doubt they will look wonderful.
They have a ‘Mother of the Bride’ evening planned shortly. This will be held at the Grosvenor Hotel, Torquay, as featured on a recent Channel Four TV series. This will be a major event for which Carol will be making a sash to wear and the high heels will be out in force – manageable because it will be ‘Car to bar’.
Carol said ‘I can’t promote the Red Hatters enough, it’s given me a new lease of life and I wouldn’t be making fascinators without the society.’ She taught herself to make these exquisite little numbers. I tried one on and looked incredibly silly, but she has made lots for her chapter.
Carol is a glamorous lady and even on holiday her style is maintained. She is ecstatic if she can sit in the sea, watching the sun glinting on her red glittery finger and toe nails. I am grateful to this fabulous lady for sharing her Red Hat experiences with me and maybe one day I might just join. Or not, because I’m too much of a scruff bag!
As well as the unnamed Oregon ladies, I’m sure there are more of you out there around the world, would you like to share some of the fun you have had? I would love to learn what you get up to around the globe!
Browsing a few shops the other day my friend (also middle aged) and I had a lot of laughs at the clothes in the High Street fashion shops. Some of the things they would like young women to wear, are quite ridiculous, ghastly and even dangerous. I pulled tiny, bright yellow, jeans style shorts from the rack, held them against myself and decided that if I could somehow force them onto my plumptious rear, I would probably get arrested. I was told the next day that they are worn with thick black tights, uh so? They would still be ultra revealing. Again, from my old fogey perspective, I find it quite worrying to drive through the town on a Saturday night, and see girls, even in winter, in the skimpiest of garments, especially when they are far from sober. And then I remembered. I would have been sixteen, drop dead gorgeous and with a perfect figure, when I wore Hot Pants and walked down the town on a Saturday night, far from sober! I was never one for flashing the cleavage, but my long, brown and sexy legs climbed high up to my very cropped denims. Actually my skirts were possibly worse than the Hot Pants, because they barely covered my assets and were definitely shorter than this.
We looked at shoes next; laughing at five inch platformed Betty Boo heels, that we would need scaffolding to be able to climb into, and crutches for three months if we attempted to walk in them. Some, like these are beautiful art, I’m tempted to buy some for posterity.
I asked a shopper if she wears anything like it and she said that yes, she does on a night out, and can keep them on comfortably for four to five hours. She was a sweetie, twenty-one and happy to have a laugh with us. Apparently she usually wears them with skinny jeans, the mind boggles. I really hope she manages to keep staying vertical. And then I remembered. My five inch, sling back platformed shoes, shiny yellow patent and worn with those tiny skirts. I really wish I’d kept them or even had a photo . . . sighs. I wonder if the twenty –one year old will be looking at the fashion when she is middle aged,and laughing about it. In the 80’s, leggings were everywhere, they disappeared for a while but then lycra’d their way back to a whole new generation, who think they’re cool. But there’s nothing new under the sun is there? Are you old enough to remember wearing some of today’s so called hot trends? Do tell me!
I’ve been somewhat distracted since yesterday hence my blossom photo, of a Dogs’ Tooth Violet, isn’t the best but I still quite like it.
You’re probably wondering what could possibly have distracted me! Well, you could call it a blossoming because yesterday a whole new grandson came into my world and I am so happy I don’t know what to do with myself!
I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to post a picture from Cappadochia, so here we are, two fairy chimneys.
Just a quickie taken with my mobile tonight. The cathedral has had scaffolding up for a very long time while they were doing restorative work. For several months the Occupy people were there and they left a mess. It was so nice to see it in all its glory. The stone masons have done such a good job on this thousand year old building, so I wanted to share it.
Yes truly! Ooonika, not how you spell it but I’m trying to provoke a reaction, has upped sticks and left my office and now works in another department. I didn’t frighten her away. I know this because she has been back up at least six times today. She needed to clear her desk, complain, help solve someone’s problem, complain, ask a favour of me, complain about the smell of a heavy smoker down there. Complaining about not having a window any longer. I do, whoopee I can see the sky and the hills!
CPW likes to sing, the Polish equivalent of humming, a sort of dee dee dee sound, when she’s happy or bored or attention seeking. She won’t be able to do that down there in the serious dungeon of management accounts, and I have already missed the noise but luckily, I can hear it in my head. It’s strange when people move on, you miss them, but they are busy learning new jobs and fitting into a different environment with new people.
CPW has promised to help me to translate some dialogue I have to write into sensible Polish but she may be too important now 😦 I know she will keep visiting though because my office has the best and most regular supply of biscuits and naughty stuff. But she won’t be able to hang around long enough to indulge in the type of stimulating and intellectual conversation we usually have, who will I talk to now? She has been great fun to work with. I’ll just have to look to the hills and hum a dee dee dee in my head, perhaps I’ll step into her shoes and become the Crazy English Woman. I have already slid under her desk to pinch her footrest, right what else has she left behind?
Lucid Gypsy 