R's rue

 Lord Hear my cries My pleas My yearning The desires Of my heart from R's rue https://ift.tt/1HOskng

  Oh my, who is that in the skeleton costume last Thursday evening.? Why- it's none other than our five year old granddaughter Phoebe! It is after school but she is about to go back there for the school's Halloween party where there will be hot dogs, candyfloss, scary tattoos and disco music. Back in my day, Halloween was not a thing in this kingdom but through American influence and films, the notion of Halloween "celebrations" or events has gradually crept into our culture. I suppose it's no surprise that  America's current president is actually a big orange pumpkin with an empty head where a candle flickers dimly ahead of the midterms. His appearance is even scarier than that  of a five year old skeleton girl.  By the way, Phoebe had a great time at the Halloween party. Fortunately, Big Orange Pumpkin Man did not turn up to scare the  little schoolchildren away. from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/lERXqYo

24/10/81 or as those crazy Americans would record it - 10/24/81. Yes my friends, on this very day exactly forty five years ago, I married my sweetheart Shirley in St Martin's Church, Owston Ferry, Lincolnshire. It was the happiest day of my life. On that day, we could have never imagined that we would still be together forty five years later. Two children. Two ectopic pregnancies. Three grandchildren. Memorable holidays, thousands of meals and the comforting rhythm of ordinary days passing by. Ups and downs. Together. Today, to celebrate, we went out to a local restaurant for a three course prix fixe lunch with glasses of New Zealand sauvignon blanc. The french onion soup they served as a starter was the best I have ever had - savoury and thick with slow-cooked onion slices and crispy onions on top with a slice of toasted rye bread with cheddar cheese beside the bowl. Back home, to mark our anniversary in a special way, I continued pulling up the old carpeting from our staircase, t...

Looking at my "Blogorama" sidebar, I note that three once favoured blogs are now no longer active. The time has come to cast them from the good ship "Yorkshire Pudding". Let them float upon The Sea of Blog Memory until they wash up on The Island of Lost Blogs. Some of you will remember Bruce Taylor (centre), the comic mastermind who produced "Oddball Observations" at his home in Prescott Valley, Arizona. Sadly, Bruce lost his wife Judith at the start of this year and then, as so often seems to happen with older couples, Bruce died on March 24th. I have kept his blog in my sidebar as a mark of respect but now it's time to let it go. Bruce is never coming back. Fourteen months ago, my favourite Anglo-Irish blogger Dave (left) told his regular visitors that his wife Jean had died very unexpectedly. His blog was and is called "Northsider" because he lives on the north side of The Sheep's Head Peninsula in County Cork. Since that tragic time, ...

 Good Friday morning May the find You seeking  Joy in the  Extraordinary ordinary from R's rue https://ift.tt/UoSVtjg

Today was haircut day for me. I have a haircut roughly every twelve weeks - something like that. My appointment was for two thirty so before I went over to Woodseats, I decided to burn off some calories with an extended walk in our neighbourhood. It's clearly autumn out there right now and on Sunday morning British households will once again go through the rigmarole of putting our clocks back an hour to mark the end of BST (British Summer Time). Why can't they just let time plod along instead of arresting it twice a year? Ridiculous. The top picture shows Brincliffe Edge Road - just three hundred yards from our house. I love roads like that where trees arch over and the road itself takes on the appearance of a tunnel. That road soon leads to Chelsea Park where this unidentified yellow tree was clearly singing its autumn lament. And then on well-heeled Chelsea Road I noticed leaves gathering in clusters or up against walls, making late October collages without human assistance.....