The Gallery - My Awesome Photo

Wow, Tara certainly knows how to set a challenge for The Gallery - I have lots of awesome photo's because they are little moments in time. My memory is awful so my photos keep my memory's alive. 

This is a photo of my Mum and me, back in the 80's. My Mum decided when we were at school she should do a degree to encourage my brother and I to study. She finished the year I got my degree. So we both got our degrees in 1989. This is the day of her ceremony, we were/are really proud of her - which isn't unusual, as I have mentioned before

This is a picture of my Dad, he is doing is 'Goons' face. Think Spike Milligan singing I am walking backwards for Christmas (I am seriously showing my age in this post!) I was trying to be all arty...

And lastly, this one is a picture of my girls. It's a proper snapshot taken at the end of last year in the snow. The girls were sledging, we hadn't been out much as the eldest had been poorly so it was their first chance to really play in the snow. They absolutely loved it. Probably as much as I love this photo.

Silentish Sunday

Love this picture my M & D look super happy.

The Gallery - Inspirational People

This is my Mum, she is 82 and one of the strongest women I know.

I have blogged about her before here. In the last blog I explained all the things she's done, which are inspirational alone, but why does she inspire me?

My Mum is a great Mum. I know she loves me no matter what, but has been really firm with me when I needed it.

I was quite unruly as a teenager and needed a firm hand. I think if it hadn't been for her I could have been a bit of a waster. Instead, I stick at things and finish them (sometimes out of pure stubbornness). My work ethic means that I have never pulled a sicky, even at school.

When I was first at college I moved out of halls of residence after the first term as I hated the restrictiveness of it, so I moved into a rented place with a friend.

It was great to begin with, but we didn't cope very well with bills, cleaning and looking after ourselves. My friend had gone home for the weekend, and I got really bad tonsillitis. I walked to the phone box (yes, this was olden days before mobile phones!) and used my last 10p to phone my Mum.

She lives in Shrewsbury and I was in college in London, she was with me within three hours (thank goodness there weren't speed camera's then). She got bin bags and just gathered up all the rubbish and clothes all over the floor of our flat, chucked everything in the back of the car (including me) and took me home.

Once I was well enough I was deposited back at the flat, even though I felt at the time that I wanted to give it all up. My Mum, just told me I had started it so I needed to finish it.

I have several similar stories of my Mum 'rescuing' me, the last time wasn't even that long ago. All I know, is if I can be anything like my Mum with my daughters, I won't be doing a bad job of it.

For more like this - go to The Gallery 

Silent Sunday

For more Silent Sunday's go Here

My Mum - A brief history of time

Normally on Mothering Sunday (not Mothers Day - that's what card companies call it, according to my Mum) we go to Shrewsbury and visit my Mum.

This year my Dad has a nasty cold so we are staying put, at my Mum's request, we don't want to tire him out.

So I thought I would write about her instead.

How do I describe my Mum. Hmmm. Expressions like 'they broke the mold',  'powerful woman', 'eccentric' come to mind.

My Mum is 82 in a couple of weeks. She is fit as a fiddle.

My Mum is a farmers daughter. The youngest of three girls. When she was young, she wanted to be a PE teacher, but she had problems with her knees so couldn't do it (also, around that time it was hard for people her age (she was born in 1929) to get a place at University to study. All the places went to the soldiers who had just returned from fighting in the war)

So instead she did a secretarial course and went to work in London.

She stayed their for a few years then went to work for an insurance company back in Shrewsbury where she met my Dad. When they got married she wasn't allowed to stay on working in the office (that's the 1950's for you). So she became a housewife.

Now, housewife is a relative term. Until my Mum got into her seventies she was:

• A guide leader and then commissioner for the county
• A Duke of Edinburgh assessor (or whatever they are called)
• Leader of the Trefold Guild
• In the WI, the chair and all sorts of other things
• Made costumes for the Local Drama Group and for a brief period acted in things as well
• A school governor for both my Infant/Primary school and my Secondary school
• Kept Bees, extracted honey and exhibited or judged it at national flower/agricultural shows
• Kept Chickens and Ducks and always a grumpy ginger cat
• Grew vegetables year round so we only ate vegetables (and sometimes chickens) from the garden 
• Plus making various costumes for me and my brother for school or parties
• When we started doing our exams she decided to do an Open University Degree which she completed the same year I got my degree.
• Not to mention just being a Mum
• Even now she is heavily involved in the local community
• She has loads of friends
• She has a laptop and emails them, she even emails me sometimes

This is a picture for the local paper, can't remember why, think it was to do with the bees.

Here she is getting her degree (so proud!)

On my wedding day, my Mum and my  Mum-in-law (another powerful woman, she's a story for another day)

But this is how I think of her, always outside, doing or making something, infinitely practical. My friends still talk about her, the story they repeat when we are reminiscing after a few drinks is this one.

We are all about 15, we are camping in my back garden, we have arranged to meet some of our other friends (boys) and are trying to leave, we have no way of letting them know that we can't get out (there are no mobile phones). The light is on in the kitchen and my Mum is in there. 10pm comes, and goes. 11pm then midnight, she is still there. At about 1am we decide to make a dash for it, figuring that we can see her but she can't see us. Wrong. We start to make a charge through the yard (there's about 6 of us) but there she is, hanging out washing. Fail.

She terrified my friends. They all think she is great now they are parents and close to the age she was then. I always thought she was great. We don't always see eye to eye, but I couldn't wish for a better Mum or role model.

For more posts like this, visit The Gallery over at Sticky Fingers

Incoming

I am preparing for the arrival of my Mother-in-law, from Ireland. She is coming to look after my 6 year old for the last couple of weeks of the holiday. Which is really kind of her.

I really like my Mum-in-law but she sometimes have views that have surprised me, for example:

She visited the herbal remedies shop and asked the shop assistant if Evening Primrose Oil would make you fat!

Breastfeeding, why would you? They don't do that in Ireland.

Put a rusk in the milk, and just make the hole a bit bigger, and do this from birth!

Is your child waking up really early? Just keep them up till you go to go to bed, that will stop them.

There are some other opinions she has which I could tell you, but they may cause an angry mob outside.

Her views used to bother me, when I had just had my first daughter and didn't really know what I was doing. Now I realise that she means no harm by it and is just trying to help, I just occasionally have to bite my tongue. And, miraculously, I have two healthy bright girls who seemed to have survived without taking all of my Mum-in-laws advice. And a Nan who loves them very much.

My husband is in the doghouse though, he is away 'with the lads' for one of the weekends she is here (He does have incredibly valid reasons for this - best friend back form Australia after 9 years away..etc etc)So I may take her for Sunday lunch at my parents.


Maybe my Mum will tell my Mother-in-law her theory on Global Warming - It isn't really real and just something some of the scientist thought of...Apparently?

My 3 Best Sunday Moments

Today has been a good day...

Best bits were:

1. My Mum coming for Sunday dinner and genuinely enjoying the pudding I made (Vanilla Panacotta with blueberry sauce..just in case you were wondering).
   
   
2. Sitting outside with my 2 year old on my lap, just chilling, watching bees collecting pollen on the lavender, whilst she spread her toes as the breeze caught her feet.
   
   
3. Eating the courgettes for dinner that I grew from seed...and they tasted good.

What were your 3 best?

PS - The photo is of Lola (my two year old), having one of her best moments today.