Category: A River of Stones

January Small Stone # 24

Posted on Posted in A River of Stones, Humour, January Small StonesTagged , , , , , 21 Comments

Do you remember the TV ad where the whole office stops, opens a can of diet coke, and sits back to watch the window cleaner at work? If you remember, then you may have just had an involuntary shudder. Well today my colleague and I had such an event, only it was a ginger nut break rather than a DC break!

There was a problem with the light over my desk so Estates were notified and an electrician, complete with a new fluorescent tube and a tool duly arrived. Oh my! Tall, black silky hair and with a Latin look, he stood beside me surveying the light fitting and much as I wanted to sit tight I was in his way, so I stood back with Viv and watched. He stretched upwards, revealing a sliver of taut, olive tummy and I had to grab a biscuit to stop myself looking silly with my slack jaw. He may have said a few words but I didn’t hear him, I was too busy planning how to ‘accidently’ trash the light to get him back tomorrow.

January Small Stones # 22

Posted on Posted in A River of Stones, Flowers, January Small StonesTagged , , , , , 14 Comments

I woke up today feeling my usual upbeat, happy self but after awhile some gloom began to creep in. I started to think about some of the big challenges ahead this year. So this afternoon I walked the dogs in the park, chilly, but I was hatted and gloved and it was full of colour. These are some of the things I saw.

I’m not even going to bother telling you what caused my early morning wallow, I’m sure that somehow it will be okay and these little bursts of cheer have helped me to put my normal, positive head back on!

January Small Stone # 21

Posted on Posted in A River of Stones, January Small StonesTagged , , , , 13 Comments

So frustrating today when I saw a rainbow and couldn’t photograph it. My android solves the problem of not being able to carry the big camera everywhere I’d like to, its camera is superb, but this time I was driving. Going down the dual carriageway, south of Dartmoor, when a both-ends-bow burst out, arching its way around Haytor in the distance. The wind was battering at my little Sadie, and steering her was hard enough when I looked straight ahead, looking right was pushing my luck!

I miss the Moor, haven’t been up since October but soon . . . and rainbows, well another blogger cheered me up with her post here,

http://melonpops.wordpress.com/2012/01/22/weekly-photo-challenge-simple-2/

January Small Stones # 20

Posted on Posted in A River of Stones, Flowers, January Small StonesTagged , , , , 4 Comments

A waft of the most heavenly smell again today, I really love those rich plant perfumes! This one reminded me of a shrub I had planted in my old garden. I took my time to select the perfect variety because of space limitations and at the time my choice was quite hard to find. Mahonias are large prickly evergreens with four inch long tendrils of yellow flowers in early spring and my variety was Buckland. Apart from size, another reason it had to be this one, was that it was first bred by the late Lionel Fortescue, when he lived at the Garden House  http://www.thegardenhouse.org.uk/ one of my very favourite gardens to visit, an hour away across Dartmoor. Seeing and catching the scent today made me wonder how my old garden is doing now, if the planting I did is appreciated.

January Small Stones # 18

Posted on Posted in A River of Stones, January Small Stones, WritingTagged , , , 13 Comments

Bonjour mademoiselle

So thrilled this morning when at 8.15 I saw a small black lady waiting at the pelican crossing on a complex junction. She’s been missing for a few weeks you see and I was concerned for her well being. She always waits for the green light, but you never know do you? Because sometimes, when its rush hour drivers are tempted to dash on through. She cheers everyone up with her elegant and proud air as she looks both ways to double check, and she always takes her time. She is one of those ladies whose age is hard to determine, very well groomed. So today she was crossing my way and she looked up at me quite sweetly, I’m sure she was pleased to see me as well. We didn’t chat though; she took a right towards Magdalen while I headed on to work.

A bientot mademoiselle pussycat!

P.S for seriously good cat tails go here

http://www.isobelandcat.wordpress.com

 

January Small Stones # 17

Posted on Posted in A River of Stones, January Small Stones, WritingTagged , , , , , 13 Comments

School’s In

The state school kids walk down the                            Independent school children slide

hill their uniforms ‘customized’ to                                from Range Rovers, Mercedes and

define their identity, identically                                    more, driven up the hill by a parent,

individual. Girls with ruler straight                              they wait patiently for the boot lid to

hair, darkly lined doe eyes and thick                            open automatically, thus saving the

foundation, pert breasts forced                                     energy it takes to lift it. Their

skywards under polo shirts with St                              discreet sports bags are smart and

Someone’s embroidered. Boys                                      unmarked. The senior boys look like

hiding school clothes under hoodies,                            daddy clones, in navy blazers, beige

pushing the boundaries of accepted                             chinos immaculately pressed, ties

footwear. Some of each gender                                      perfectly ordered around proud

brazenly taking the odd puff of fag.                              necks. Pink cheeked girls, knee

Boys shove their mobiles in their                                  length skirts, tidy hair and not a

back pocket; girls show theirs off                                  smudge of lippy anywhere. The

while they Facebook and tweet.                                    occasional middle nowhere voice of

Check out the street corners, you’ll                             mummy, ‘Darling, please don’t

see some Good Morning gropes.                                   forget the Humphrey-Pococks

Hugs or fights.                                                                  are dining tonight.’

January Small Stones # 16

Posted on Posted in A River of Stones, border terriers, January Small StonesTagged , , , , 18 Comments

8am and the tiniest twinkle toed puppy is trotting along with its mummy. It’s probably a Christmas puppy on one of its very first walks and yet it is doing so well on its lead. I remember when Dido and Daisy were that size and their pads were as soft as velvet. They were summer puppies so didn’t have to put their tender paws on ground as cold as today.

This is D ‘n’D when they were that size, adorable aren’t they? This was their first walk on the beach and they were very excited but a little overwhelmed. I hope this mornings  little one soon went home for brekkie and a warm up.