Happy New Year

Not to you, dear reader – I’m two weeks late for that – but to just one dear reader…

…yes, Spud is 23 today! Happy birthday, Spud.

To celebrate, here’s some of your greatest hits:

 

23 years ago today, and Mummy was as roly poly then as she is now, but with more excuse…

Little punk

Love me, love the boy who thinks he owns me…

Brothers ‘n’ arms

Growing lad

So good looking

Family gathering

Release the hounds!

Glass funeral. No, seriously.

Brothers ‘n tired arms.

Soooo good looking.

I sing, therefore I am

Proud daddy

Sleeping beauty

Need I say more?

Shakespeare and pizza – who could ask for anything more?

Bert

Money, money, money. I’m an actor; I probably won’t see this much money again in one place in my lifetime.

How to rock headgear

All you need is a little razzmatazz!

Seriously – sooooo good looking

How I got here

 

And a little song to celebrate:

 

Not a birthday song, but one of my favourites by Alex and, let’s be honest, when I found out I was pregnant twenty-three years ago, I felt like dancing. Now I dance like felt.

Happy birthday, sweetie pie!

 

 

What Are You Up To, Dad?

Here’s a gratuitous pic of my gorgeous grandson.  We call it ‘Suspicious Baby’.

In The Last Week I Have

• Photo by Pam Robinson
• Given three short poetry readings
• Hosted my firstborn child, Rarity Boy
• Made the best fairy cakes I’ve ever baked
• Made the worst fairy cakes I’ve ever baked
• Baked!  Who’d have thunk it?
• Chatted to the Mayor
• Put a hole in my knee (and my favourite black leggings)
• Proofread and/or critiqued at least five documents of one sort or another
• Missed the Supermoon, as expected – Stockport doesn’t do celestial events, being under one continuous cloud blanket since I moved here in 1996
• Made a roast dinner in a state of mild hysteria
• Attended two meetings
• Been unable to buy train tickets on a website because it’s just too hard!
• Allowed my last born child to patronise me because he knows how to buy train tickets off the internet
• Felt immense guilt that I haven’t replied to your comments or returned your visits
• Not been paid for anything on this list
• Wished I had a penny for every moment of guilt felt because then I could pay someone to reply to your comments and return your visits
• Found the first photo of me I’ve actually liked since 2003 (banner photo notwithstanding, because that’s of the Hub and I, who I love soooooo much)
• Considered replacing the Hub, who broke my Tree of War mug, even though he offered to give me his as a replacement; maybe I’ll replace him with his mug…or just bean him with it
• Put off going in the shower by writing this when I should be getting ready to go out to another meeting

I apologise for the smell

Rogue’s Gallery

Happy birthday to the Hub!

Such a cheerful man.  You can see why I’ve stayed married to him for so long, can’t you?

A honeymoon pic.  He was twenty.

A barrel of laughs.

A self-portrait he made which freaked the heck out of me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When a man looks that good, here’s the inevitable result…

#Global Selfie Earth Day Today!

Here’s mine:

 

#Global Selfie Earth Day

I subscribe to NASA’s emails and I received one the other day that I’d like to share.  Tomorrow, they want everyone to take a selfie.

Are you up for it?  If you don’t do Twitter, Facebook, etc., post it to your blog then leave a link here in the comments and I’ll come check you out.

Here’s their blurb:

NASA invites you — and everyone else on the planet — to take part in a worldwide celebration of Earth Day this year with the agency’s #GlobalSelfie event.

The year 2014 is a big one for NASA Earth science. Five NASA missions designed to gather critical data about our home planet are launching to space this year. NASA is marking this big year for Earth science with a campaign called Earth Right Now, and as part of this campaign the agency is asking for your help this Earth Day, April 22.

While NASA satellites constantly look at Earth from space, on Earth Day we’re asking you to step outside and take a picture of yourself wherever you are on Earth. Then post it to social media using the hashtag #GlobalSelfie.

For more information on getting involved

For more information about NASA’s Earth science activities in 2014, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/earthrightnow

Short Cut

This was me last Friday morning:

Me as Captain Caveman:

This was me on Friday afternoon:

What do you think?

Weekly Photo Challenge: Unexpected

I went to my church Christmas Fair on Saturday and chatted to a friend who was on face painting duty.

Want your face painted? she joked.

No thanks, I laughed.

Then I remembered my 101/1001 task to say yes to new experiences…and here is the result:

(I’m also doing my bit for Movember)

And yes, shocking as it is, I have lived fifty years without ever having my face painted.  How about you?

Weekly Photo Challenge Catch-Up

Checking my Daily Prompt folder, I discovered I have 224 prompts to answer.  I thought I’d better make a start.

WPC: Curves

The Hub and I celebrated his 21st birthday in our second home.  We had been married four months and still had our figures:

WPC: Fleeting

My love for the Hub was fleeting.  It lasted as long as the time it took to develop this photograph:

WPC: The World Through My Eyes

I see the world through eyes that are still this young:

WPC: Companionable

We have always been companionable, so long as I tell him what to do and he does it:

In return, I have to wear a green headdress at all times.

WPC: Foreshadow

Here’s a foreshadowing of our relationship:

WPC: An Unusual Point Of View

Here’s an unusual point of view – the Hub is telling me what to do:

Don’t worry: it was only which section of the paper I could have.  Natural order was soon restored:

Proud! Proud! Proud!

A play in a week – wow!

From the Broadway production

The reason for today’s tenor-themed jokes is that Spud played the lead in Lend Me A Tenor this week.  It was his third play in six months but he rose to the challenge and then some.

His school has a tradition at the end of the year of Lower Sixth students rehearsing and performing a play in a week.  The students choose the director, the play, the cast, the crew; source the props; get a week off lessons to rehearse, which is much harder work than anything they’ll be taught once exams are done.

Because of licensing issues, the directors are chosen some weeks beforehand; they choose the play and begin auditions.  Spud was cast before his exams and spent his revision downtime learning lines.  The actual work started last Thursday, however.  They rehearsed Saturday, each school day and after school as well.  It was worth it.

One of the teachers told me that some years, the kids aren’t interested and it’s a shambles.  Not this year.  The girl playing Maria and the boy playing the bell-hop were particularly good, but each and every parent could feel proud of each and every child involved, front and backstage: it was clear they had worked their backsides off.  Yes, there were mistakes, but the actors ad-libbed and it all added to the fun, especially when Spud accidentally bashed the Tenor’s head against the bed and the Tenor – supposed to be dead – got the giggles.  They should have passed it off as rigor mortis.  

Hub and I went to see the play last night.  Did you ever burst with so much pride, you wanted to run onto a stage and scream at the audience, That’s my son!  That’s my son!?  He was sooooo good – he was nervous, edgy, wimpy, comical, sweaty and just so darn funny.  The drama teacher told him he had ‘a rare talent,’ to act in a Greek Classical play, a major Shakespearean role, and a farce; and to be convincing in each one.

Proud doesn’t begin to cover it.

Click on any picture to see the gallery enlarged

Max

Saunders, Max, Maggie

Max

Tito, Maria, Max

Here’s how I could have reacted

Max shakin’ his thang

The Reveal

Tito

Celebrate!

Max, Diana

Go here for more Six Word Saturdays.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Escape

The Hub has often tried to escape from me:

This is the result:

He tried to pay me off:

Trouble is, the party his generosity paid for lead to this:

And, consequently, this:

Face it, Hub: there’s no escaping me:

Joke 716

rendered universal joint animation. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Motor Insurance Quotes from Claim Forms

1. I was on my way to the doctor with rear end trouble when my universal joint gave way causing me to have an accident.

2. I knocked over a man. He admitted it was his fault as he had been run over before.

3. I collided with a stationary tramcar coming the other way.

4. I consider that neither vehicle was to blame but if either were to blame it was the other one.

5. I left my Austin Seven outside and when I came out later to my amazement there was an Austin Twelve.

6. Car had to turn sharper than was necessary owing to an invisible lorry.

7. To avoid a collision I ran into the other car.

8. The pedestrian had no idea which way to run, so I ran over him.

9. The other car collided with mine without giving any warning of its intention.

10. The other man altered his mind so I had to run into him.

11. I told the other idiot what he was and went on.

12. A pedestrian hit me and went under my car.

13. I unfortunately ran over a pedestrian and the old gentleman was taken to hospital, much regretting the circumstances.

14. I thought the side window was down but it was up, as I found when I put my head through it.

15. If the other driver had stopped a few yards behind himself the accident would not have happened.

16. She suddenly saw me, lost her head and we met.

17. Cow wandered into my car. I was afterwards informed that the cow was half-witted.

18. Three women were talking to each other and when two stepped back and one stepped forward I had to have an accident.

19. There were plenty of lookers-on but no witnesses.

20. A bull was standing near and a fly must have tickled him because he gored my car.

From Will & Guy.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Lost In The Details

Spud is sick again.  He’s had one bug after another since Christmas, but he hasn’t missed one day of school.  Fortunately, he had the worst bug during half term, when he barely got out of bed.

It’s his play this week.  You may remember he’s playing Prospero in The Tempest.  For those who don’t do Shakespeare, it’s the lead and he bears a huge responsibility.

He hasn’t missed one rehearsal.  With weekend rehearsals he hasn’t had one day off in over two weeks.  He is currently dosed up on anti-cold medicines and vitamin C, determined not to let anyone down.

We have always stressed to our children that if they take on a commitment, they must stick it out.  He’s doing that.

What gets lost in the details, however, is that he’s a seventeen-year old boy and he’s doing this for fun.  I wonder how much fun he’s having, taking his homework along to do in today’s dress rehearsal lunch break?

I am never embarrassed to boast about my children; and today, I even have reason.

I’m proud of you, Spud.  That will never get lost in the details.  It’s a brave new world that has people such as you in it.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Beyond (2)

As one cannot wear a velour track suit without looking scruffy, even when one’s velour track suit is brand new; and one cannot help but look triple-chinned when one’s Hub takes a standing photo of one whilst sitting, I think one’s caving to your demands for a photo takes one above and beyond the call of blogging duty, hence one’s use of formal language to distance oneself from – or get beyond, if you will – a very unflattering photograph.

Really, dear readers, insisting on photographs to back up photographic prompt posts is beyond the pale.  One might even call it madness.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Beyond

The Daily Post sent out this prompt on January 18th.  I’m getting faster at responding!

There is no photograph to illustrate it, for reasons that will become apparent.

The Hub bought me a velour track suit today.  It is so comfortable, I think he should buy me another.

Save yourselves – I am beyond help.