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Monthly Archives: November 2012

Sunlit Leaves, Clock Tower and Mum’s Birthday

1 The sun shining through these leaves in the park was just lovely.

Sunlit leaves

2   I hadn’t noticed this small clock tower on a local solicitor’s building before. I think the sun must have caught the gold on it so that today I did.

Clock tower

3    It was brilliant to be back at Choir tonight – I’ve really missed it. We’ve started rehearsing for our Christmas gigs and it was so good to be singing in harmony again!  Driving home was delightful too as the town was being lit by fireworks all over the place. Mum would have loved it. She was always delighted that everyone was celebrating her birthday!

 

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Wire Bugs, Skype and A Taj Mahal Gallery

1    Sometime ago we gave away some brass wire through Free-cycle and today, one of the people who had some, sent me an email to tell me what she has done with it. She has made these very pretty Feeding Bugs! Please click on the symbol if the bugs aren’t showing.

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2   We have Skyped with Daniel and Ami in Barcelona, so lovely to talk to them and see them again. We’ve missed them while we’ve been away.

3   I’ve been sorting our holiday photos and have put together a gallery of photos that we took at the Taj Mahal. You can click on any photo for an enlargement.

 

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Sunrise, Garden Birds and Flowers

1   Sunrise from our own windows can be as beautiful as those we’ve seen while in India and Nepal.

Sunrise over the back

2   It is always a joy to watch the birds in our garden. This morning we have seen the blue-tits  a pair of great tits, a male blackcap but not his mate, some hedge sparrows, goldfinches, blackbirds and a stunning pair of magpies and all in just a few minutes.  They are enjoying the berries of the Berberis and the seeds on the fennel as well as the fat-balls and various seeds that we put out for them.

3   It’s very pleasing to find so much still in flower in November too – a couple of Dahlias, Chocolate Cosmos (which has been in flower for months) Fuchsia and Viburnum, Kashmir Lilies as well as Heliotrope and Verbena.

Viburnum

Kashmir Lily

Fuchsia

 

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Waking Up In Our Own Bed, Insurance and One Thousand and Ninety-five Beautiful Things

1    However lovely it is to travel, it’s always beautiful to wake up in your own bed!  I will be putting up lots more photos of our trip to share more of that amazing journey and what we learned with you all.

2    Our insurance company have responded very positively to our finding the dining room carpet drenched! The dehumidifier which usually switches itself off when the tank is full, didn’t! It overflowed instead. We might at last be able to replace the carpet which has been here since we moved in and which we have never liked so it’s not a problem but an opportunity!

3    I have been blogging for a whole year! That is at least 1095 beautiful things! I’ve gained 294 followers, been read in 117 countries, had over 20,000 hits and made so many lovely blogging friends  Thank you to you all for reading, liking and commenting. Every one is really appreciated.

I was asked recently by a fellow blogger, what do we bloggers get out of this activity? That made me think……

What have I got out of blogging?   Well, so much! I started my blog just for me and had no prior understanding of the friends I would make along the way, that people might actually be interested in what I was doing and that I would come to look forward so much to reading other people’s blogs and thoughts and that we could have conversations across the miles.

I have learned so much about other people’s lives, about the hardships some people face every day, about lives in other countries – blogging has opened up a whole new world for me! I love to read  comments on blogs too and when they touch a chord, I go and look at that person’s blog and another friendship begins to blossom. So, a heartfelt thank you to all of you out there and here’s a beautiful photo for you all.

Sunrise over The Ganges, taken by Mr S

It makes me wonder too, what is it that you get out of this blogging activity?

 
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Posted by on November 2, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

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1st November – Grandbabies, Train to Cornwall and Arriving Home

1   Spending a short time with the Grandbabies before our journey back to Cornwall.

Ready to go to Nursery, wearing her new hoodie

Enjoying a hot chocolate

2   I love the train journey to Cornwall but it was dark almost as soon as we set off and I was so tired, I slept most of the way.

3   It’s lovely to be able to travel and to have had such a fantastic trip and it’s lovely to come home.  Thank you for all the comments you, my lovely readers, have left over the last two weeks. I will get around to replying in the next few days.

 

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31st October – Leaving Kathmandu, Young Mother and Sunset Over Europe

1    Leaving Kathmandu for Delhi very early in the morning, as people are going to work and the sun is coming up through the trees.

Sun coming up in Kathmandu

People off to work very early

2   This beautiful young mother was waiting to fly with her tiny three week old son.

Another lovely person willing to talk to me and happy to have her photo taken

3   As we flew West for eight and a half hours we were flying into the sunset for such a long time. The colours were so intense and so beautiful.

Above the clouds

Sunset over Northern Europe, the colour being caught in our vapour trail

And a 4th today –  being met by our beautiful daughter.

 

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30th October – Sunrise Over The Annapurna Mountains, Dashane Swing and Lake Phewa

1   Up in the dark again today and it was worth every minute!   A short drive and then a climb, all in the dark and finding our spot to watch the sunrise but first the full moon had to set behind the hill.  The sun rising over this range of mountains was so incredibly beautiful. Just look at the photos.

The full moon setting over the hill

Sunrise beginning over the Annapurnas

The beauty of sunrise

Layers of foothills beginning to appear

Sunlight just reaching the peaks

Sunrise

2   We’ve been lucky enough to be in Nepal during a very special festival, Dashain, a festival of Prosperity, Happiness  and Belongingness. I think that is so beautiful! We have been greeted many times with the tika, the red mark on the forehead and I was lucky enough to be given one of the special ones when we crossed the bridge the other day.Have a look here.

Another feature of the festival is the constrution of huge bamboo and coconut rope swings. We’ve seen them in every village that we’ve driven through in Nepal. It is considered good luck to get both feet off the ground during this festival. “There is a tradition to swing at least once in this festival. People say if you leave the ground swinging in Dashain,  the swing will take away ill feelings and replace it with newness and rejuvenation inside oneself.”      You can find out more here

Bamboo swing

3   Being rowed across Lake Phewa with the snow topped mountains towering above was yet another wonderful experience.  I can’t quite believe we’ve been doing all this!

Lake Phewa

Some of our group on the lake

Nepali family enjoying a day out

The dragonfly is the same colour as our boat!

 

 

 

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29th October – Drive to Pokhara, Street Scenes and Shops

1. Long and bumpy ride to Pokhara with views of the fascinating countryside. Many of the houses are painted beautifully and corn can be seen drying under the eaves. Women have been up early doing the washing which is hanging colourfully on the balconies to dry.

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These photos are all taken from the moving coach.

2. This vehicle caught our interest, they’re used to transport all manner of things including bamboo poles which were being accidentally sharpened as they were dragged along the road. People carry enormous loads in these baskets. Gurkha soldiers in training carry the baskets full of rocks at speed up a mountainside!

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Bamboo poles being transported

Poles being sharpened!

Carrying a load in a basket

3. It was lovely to find a super bookshop and to talk to the family in a clothes shop. The people here are so lovely – welcoming and wanting to know all about our visit.

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