What is love?

Someone sent me these quotes in an email and I just wanted to share.

When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth. Billy -Age 4
Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your french fries without making them give you any of theirs. Chrissy - Age 6
Love is what makes you smile when you're tired. Terri Age 4
Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen. Bobby Age 7
If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate. Nikka Age 6
Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it every day. Noelle Age 7
Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day. Mary Ann Age 4
When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you. Karen Age 7
You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget. Jessica Age 8

Superstitions

My mum was a great one for superstitions. Some of them are quite common like warding off bad luck by throwing a pinch of spilt salt over your left shoulder, or not putting an umbrella up indoors. New shoes should never be put on the table, and if you see one magpie on it's own, you should always salute it and say 'Good morning Mr Magpie'. Never look at a new moon through glass, although you can get round this one by turning over any loose change in your pocket.

Some, I suspect were made up by her in an effort to cajole reluctant children to eat up their crusts - guaranteed to give you wavy hair apparently. Or take the last bit of disgusting medicine off the spoon, as that was where all the goodness sank to and you wouldn't get better if you didn't take THAT bit.

But one superstition that she passed onto me, and one which I have never understood, was that you should never look directly into the middle of a poppy. So when I saw how beautifully the seed pod of this plant had opened up at the end of the garden this afternoon, I did think she probably wouldn't have been happy to see me taking this photo.

A Good Talking To

You know when a friend has your best interests at heart when they tell you something, or comment on something you have - or haven't - done, that really is for your own good even though you don't want to hear it.
It happened to me twice yesterday and as I am a firm believer of 'things happen in threes' it can only be a matter of time before it happens again.
It was weigh in night at my Rosemary Conley class last night. I've been going for about 18 months now. I reached my target weight months ago and am now just 'maintaining' which in my mind is harder because you feel like you are entitled to treats and easily stray off the straight and narrow. Two weeks ago, our talk was on snacks, the kind of things you can pick up and eat when that sugar dip happens about 4pm and your hand migrates to the biscuit barrel/cake tin/crisp packet/maltesers snack pack (delete as appropriate) The thing is I heard all these lovely ideas and instead of having them instead of my normal snack, I had them AS WELL AS. So it's weigh in time. I reach the front of the queue. 'How do you think you have done?' asks Audrey. 'Well... I went out for a meal yesterday, ate cake, drank champagne ... but I've been good the rest of the time.' Hmmm so how come the scales went up 2lbs then? She didn't actually say anything, she just gave me THAT look. The stern look with the raised eyebrows. The hint of disappointment in her frown. It was for my own good though as I realised that those pounds have been going on one week and off the next but I need to give myself a good talking to and get back on the straight and narrow before I head off to Portugal at the end of the month. So now I have put it out in cyberspace I feel that I have to follow through and be good. Grilled bacon and tomato for breakfast just now. Chicken sandwich for lunch and pork and pepper kebab with rice for dinner tonight. And no extra snacks. Not even the gingerbread man I've been getting from the school canteen mid morning. Nor the iced finger bun. Honest.
Secondly. I had a telling off from Denise. Not a proper telling off, just a strict email asking 'so why isn't your name on this list then?' with a reference to Mel's blog. You see I had been meaning to do it but you know how it is. I've never done anything like that before and I'm not sure how I will get on left to my own devices but as I had a feeling that my name was going to end up on there even if Denise had to hack into my account and do it for me! And actually, now I've joined up, I'm quite excited so it really was for my own good again.
OK. Who's next? Who wants to tell me off for something else?!

Sisters

I can't believe my sister is 60. When I was growing up 60 was ancient. 60 is what elderly grandparents were. So it's hard to think that my big sis is 60. She's actually a pretty good advert for being 60. She certainly doesn't look it. (She doesn't have to resort to fake tan as she spends months at a time at her holiday home in Portugal!) And certainly doesn't act it. So if this is what 60 holds, it doesn't seem so bad. Especially when it's still 8 years away ;-)

So anyway, we all got together for her birthday yesterday. And her daughter managed to avoid going into labour 3 days early so she was able to be there with us too!

There was cake. (Did you notice I managed to buy serviettes to remind her how old she was? 'Cos that's the kind of things little sisters do.)

There were candles.

There was a picture of her with her MUCH younger sister ;-)

Weekend Wordle

Well after Mel's amazing instructions about Wordle, I just had to have a go and after a bit of playing around I finally came up with this. I just need to work out how to make it a bit bigger and I think I'll have cracked it!

News on the tan front ... I look like I've just returned from two weeks in Barbados :-) It's my sister's 60th birthday celebrations tomorrow (she's SO much older than me!!!!) so there are bound to be photos taken. Be prepared!

Tan-fastic

One of my birthday presents, back in March, was a voucher for the beauty salon which is part of where my daughter works. I had a facial a month ago which was so relaxing and wonderful and today I went back for something else. Something I've never had before. Something that I kind of wanted but was a bit anxious about having. A spray tan. I love the feeling of being bronzed and think that psychologically, when I am tanned I feel better. But we all know the dangers of sunbathing and as a natural redhead, although I do tan, it is a slow process.
So today I found myself standing in just my knickers in a tent like structure with my hair in a shower cap being sprayed with 'Fake Bake'. You have an image in you mind, don't you? I can tell. I can almost see those smirks, hear those barely concealed sniggers of laughter! It was not a warm day today, so how stupid did I feel walking back to my car in strappy sundress and flip flops? You have to wear loose clothing afterwards to avoid rubbing it off.
The idea behind Fake Bake is that you leave it on overnight and it gradually darkens and darkens and then you shower off and it leaves your skin a golden brown. It adjusts to your own skin tone (apparently. I'll let you know tomorrow) It starts off pretty dark actually. I took a photo of myself on arrival home as proof. I was going to blog it. Really, I was. But I can't bring myself to do it.
My husband just arrived home. He's still laughing.
I do hope it DOES wash off or I'm in trouble.
See you tomorrow .....

Elephant parade

Today I sent my husband on a mission.

It wasn't exactly difficult, and it wasn't unpleasant. I just wanted him to go out in his lunch hour and take photos. In fact I would have loved to be able to do it myself. But the inconvenient fact is that I work at a school in Hertfordshire and he works for a property developer in the City of London. And the things I wanted photographed are dotted around London at the moment. And they are unlikely to ever end up in our town. Several of them are nearby his office, along the embankment of the River Thames. Here they are, aren't they gorgeous?

It's all part of a programme to raise awareness of the plight of the endangered Asian elephant. You can read about it here and here and it's called the Elephant Parade.

Just thought you'd like a change from seeing my album pictures today!