ABroad with a View

Social Networking -- in the Local Community

2012-01-28T03:29:00.000Z

We have lived in our house since 1986 and other than our neighbours on the right have met very few people from our neighbourhood in that time. I am not entirely sure why that is -- other than 'keeping ourselves to ourselves' as some tend to do. We live only a few blocks from the town centre and many of the houses on our street have been turned into flats and bedsits and there is a very high

Violence and Murder = Entertainment Tonight!

2012-01-25T18:20:00.000Z

Along with millions of others I was completely enthralled by the Stieg Larsson Millennium Trilogy and its heroine Lisbeth Salander. I confess to being an ardent fan of Scandinavian crime fiction and have devoured the entire Swedish Wallander series by Henning Manning and the Norwegian Jo Nesbo's rather dubious Harry Hole detective thrillers. Early in January my sister-in-law and I went to the

Honesty Is All Well and Good -- So Is Funereal Discretion the Better Part of Valour?

2012-01-21T17:39:00.000Z

On Wednesday last The Man and I journeyed to Girvan in Ayrshire, Scotland to attend the funeral of a very old personal friend and colleague from The Man's days in the Royal Air Force. We were only in Scotland for a little over 24 hours, but to say the least, it was a very interesting visit and a very beautiful part of the world. I had only been to Scotland twice before -- once to an RAF reunion

Is It Fiction or is it Emotional Perception and Social Cognition?

2012-01-16T15:31:00.000Z

Gosh but the news for what seems like forever has been glum glum glum! Between the global economy, upcoming elections and extreme weather, not to mention cruise ships too close to shore turning over and dire predictions for everybody -- why does anyone in his or her right mind watch the news or pick up a newspaper? So it was a special treat for me yesterday to find an article which truly

You Might Like to Know

2012-01-11T17:14:00.000Z

Recently, so many of the blogs I follow and those that follow me are writing about diets and needing to lose weight. Well, it's not as if I'm not in the same boat or anything but I just want to say to one and all that for me YOU ARE ALL BEAUTIFUL! This is the wonder of the blogosphere -- we can see with a different eye and the 'eye' that we see with is the one that we alone can see -- it is not

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas Memories: Putting Away the Old and the New

2012-01-05T05:00:00.081Z

There is nothing like seeing our ornaments and decorations brought out to bring back memories of Christmas Past. I try to add at least one new ornament to my collection each year. There is not telling what might take my fancy from one year to the next. This year a little Eskimo angel bell took my fancy! There are two decorations that I cannot bear to put away, one is a pewter Christmas tree and

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas Memories: Conspiracy

2012-01-04T05:00:00.002Z

One year Mom decided to take my little sister and me to see Santa! I must have been around 6. We headed downtown to the local Sears and Roebuck store and down the stairs to the basement. I don't remember much of the detail , but what I remember is quite clear. The queue/line was quite long for St. Johnsbury, Vermont -- there must have been a dozen mothers with their children in tow. As I stood

On the Tenth Day of Christmas Memories: Food Food Glorious Food!

2012-01-03T05:00:00.017Z

As a child I was a very very very fussy eater! Of course I loved cookies and cake but not if any of those had raisins or nuts or orange peal or anything lumpy... And I liked ice cream as long as it was vanilla or chocolate! It wasn't until I was quite a bit older than I developed any kind of palate, my point being that my memory of Christmas food is somewhat limited as I didn't like most of it.

On the Ninth Day of Christmas Memories: Boxing Day?

2012-01-02T05:00:00.009Z

New Year's Eve 2011/12 If I'd been thinking I'd have written this to post on Boxing Day -- but I wasn't so here goes. In Britain Boxing Day, the day after Christmas, has many different theories as to its origin. The truth is no one really knows. And I get the feeling a lot of people don't really know what to do with the day. Often it's a day for visiting relatives or for them to visit you --

On the Eighth Day of Christmas Memories: New Year's Eve

2012-01-01T05:00:00.063Z

Overall I would say I have not found New Year's Eve to all that it is cracked up to be! The most memorable of all was seeing in the year 2000. We spent the evening through to the early hours of the Morning with our closest friends in Southport. There were four couples in all and quite a few of our children to see in that special year. Because of the intimacies of the friendships the evening

On the Seventh Day of Christmas Memories: Bavarian Christmas

2011-12-31T05:00:00.096Z

Yuletide in Bavaria is the quintessential Christmas experience! The place is like a Christmas card come to life. The food, the smells, the markets, the decorations, gluhe Wein and usually snow! There are treasured memories of our 5 years in Tutzing are of the people around our table and being invited to share in celebrations with other friends -- German, American and British. There is the memory

On the Sixth Day of Christmas Memories: Frostbite

2011-12-30T05:00:00.002Z

One year when I was a teenager, my best friend, her sister and I decided we would go skiing. It was a crisp sunny day and we set out in the early afternoon a few days before New Year. I was very proud of my ski outfit and my bright red skis. I don't think I could have been much more than 16 because my girlfriend was not driving but had her sister with us and had her car. Our original plan had

On the Fifth Day of Christmas Memories: Blizzard!

2011-12-29T05:00:00.160Z

Christmas 2002 The last time we were all together... Christmas 2002 was very exciting for us. We decided to spend Christmas in the States with my parents -- all of us from England and my son and his wife and my grandson, who would celebrate his 2nd birthday on the 27th of December. My son, Chris, was in the army and stationed at Ft. Lewis just outside of Olympia, Washington. He found a great

On the Fourth Day of Christmas Memories: The Doctor Calls

2011-12-28T05:00:00.035Z

As to the year I cannot recall exactly, but I would guess it was 1952. As usual I was up at the crack of dawn. That was the year the my curiosity got the better of me and I was unable to resist trying to have a peek at the stack of presents in the dining room. Of course I was sure my mother wouldn't realize that I had been trying to see by lifting the paper around the tape -- which of course

On the Third Day of Christmas Memories: The Loriols

2011-12-27T05:00:00.002Z

It was 1954 when the Loriol Family came to St. Johnsbury, Vermont from France. The family was a match for ours with two girls and a boy and we were all of similar ages. M. Georges Loriol was an English teacher in France and had come on an exchange program to teach French at St. Johnsbury Academy, where my father taught English. Both of our families lived in school accommodation and lived more or

On the Second Day of Christmas Memories: Christmas 1968

2011-12-26T05:00:00.004Z

It's funny what one remembers about past events ... I remember my parents and my brother and sisters were all ready to leave for church on Christmas Eve 1968. I was wearing my brand new never-worn-before red winter coat! The television was still on and suddenly NASA was broadcasting from the astronauts as they circled the moon and watched the Earthrise. It was an amazing thing to see and then to

On the First Day of Christmas Memories: The Village

2011-12-25T05:00:00.002Z

Merry Christmas to All! When I was a child we never had a real Christmas tree. Altogether we had three fake trees and there was a good reason for this ... we had a very special Christmas village. The artificial Christmas tree was the 'village' Christmas tree and could not be allowed to compromise the 'works' that made the village come to life! My mother was born in April of 1919 and by the end

I May Be Slow, but Time Stops for No One

2011-12-17T07:56:00.000Z

No matter how I try to arrange it, I always seem to be running out of time. I thought for a while it was because I was getting up late, but it's the same even whether I get up at 7.00 or 11.00. In my head I want to blog every day or every other day -- but finding the time and quiet required doesn't seem to mesh. The thing is I don't feel as if I'm doing that much that I should feel so behind the

Pondering Economic Crises During Advent

2011-12-14T05:14:00.000Z

Well, "they" are all bickering. Even the television commentators are tired of the story of the current economic saga, which keeps repeating itself. It starts something like, "if a solution isn't found by Friday the world is going to end" and continues in the vein of 'really this time they can't just kick the can down the road'. Which we all know is going to end with the can being noisily and

Some Fun!

2011-12-07T12:38:00.000Z

Aviation crew on HMS Ocean made a Christmas DVD singing 'All I want for Christmas is You' to Mariah Carey! This should make you smile ...

My Grandmother Was Sew Right!

2011-12-03T16:55:00.001Z

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far way (so it would seem) when I was very young I was a seamstress. As an adolescent I learned how to sew from my adored and adoring grandmother. Both my grandmother and my grandfather worked with their hands. My grandfather was a watchmaker and worked in miniature -- I will write more about him and the Christmas Village he made for my mother in a post I plan to do

Finally It's Done -- Almost

2011-11-30T12:57:00.000Z

Before After Several months ago -- in June to be precise -- I had the opportunity to acquire very inexpensively, the office furniture of a friend who was closing down his business. My old and well-worn office desk had serve a useful and cheap purpose, but I had long hankered after something more modern and with more work space. We had to do some figuring out as to where to put

Wachet auf!

2011-11-28T14:10:00.000Z

"Wachet auf! ruft uns die Stimmeder Wachter, sehr hoch auf der Zinne;'Wach auf, du Stadt Jerusalem!'Metternatcht heisst diese Stunde;sie rufen uns mit hellem Munde:'Wo seid ihr, kluge Jungfrauen?Wohl auf, der Brautgam kommt;Steht auf, die Lampen nehmt!Hosiana!Macht euch bereit zu der Hochzeit. 'Wake, O wake!' With tidings thrilling.The watchmen's cry the air is filling:'Arise, Jerusalem,

Thanksgiving for Three

2011-11-26T18:03:00.001Z

Today's the day we usually celebrate Thanksgiving at our house. This year I felt somewhat glum on Thursday -- perhaps because of all the recent family get-togethers and also remembering that last year The Man and I were in Connecticut with my mother and sister and her family. It's easy to get spoiled! So on Thursday, in order to feel somewhat part of things, I began preparations for today's

London: A Treasure for the Memories

2011-11-21T13:27:00.000Z

Tuesday. My niece had invited the three of us to her place for a breakfast of pastries from a local bakery. So after a short lie-in we got ourselves up and dressed and headed off down the Bayswater Road towards Palace Court. We (sister, nephew and me) had intended to catch a bus, but it was a perfect day for walking and so off we trotted to places so far unknown. New pajamas from Grammy! This