RSS

Tag Archives: David Wiseman

My Dad, Angels and A Poem

Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of my Dad’s dying after 17 days in a most wonderful hospice. I thought about him yesterday, of course, and today feel his not being here more than usual. There’ve been so many times over the years when I’ve wanted to tell him something and a split second later, remember that I can’t.
This poem by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer just fits for today.

For the Heartbroken

December 8, 2024 by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

I don’t know if there are angels,
but if there are, do they weep for us?
With all the beauty they know could be,
do they weep for all the pain we sow,
weep each time we hurt the world?
I don’t know if there are angels,
but sometimes when my own tears come,
I imagine the angels gather me
in their great and tireless arms,
and their tears mix with mine as they whisper,
That’s right, dear, feel everything.
We feel it all, too. That is why we sing.

Here’s one of my glass angels, for Dad.

4 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on December 18, 2024 in art, glass, poetry, Postaday 2024

Tags: David Wiseman, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

Kitten, Cookies and Dusk

13 Jan

We went to visit Dear friends today to catch up after many weeks and to meet their new kitten. We both fell in love with him!

Playing, very hard to get a photo

Maybe that’s enough

Feeling a bit sleepy

Nodding off

Out for the count

Isn’t he gorgeous?

Our lovely friend had been baking and sent us home with some of her delicious cookies.

Chocolate and ginger cookies

Later we visited the beach as the rain had stopped and is due again tomorrow so we seized the moment.

Porthtowan at dusk

Remembering my lovely Dad today on his birthday. Here is our bookshelf of his books.

9 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on January 13, 2023 in baking, Cornwall, environment, friendship, Happiness, nature, photography, Porthtowan, Postaday2022

Tags: David Wiseman, ginger kitten, Jane Julian

A Wedding, A Dedication and A Celebration

02 Sep

On this day in 1939, my Mum and Dad were married.They were to have honeymooned in Paris but given that WWII broke out on September 3rd they had a weekend in Blackpool instead before my Dad went off to the army for five years.

My Mum at her wedding in 1939

My Dad retired early to write and dedicated his first novel to my Mum ( using a nom de plume as advised by the publishers as it was thought that women read more historical romantic fiction and that they like to read books written by women!) The novel is set in Cornwall in the late 1800’s and its background is the tin mining industry that was so important to the Cornish.

Dad’s first novel, published in the US and the UK by Weidenfeld and Nicholson, in paperback by Sphere

The dedication

Their Golden wedding in 1989 was a great big family reunion in Cornwall as by then my older brother and his wife and two children were living in Munich, Germany, my younger brother and his wife were in Atlanta, Georgia and my sister and her growing family were in Phoenix, Arizona and I was in Yorkshire with my family. The advance for Ellen Bray paid for everyone to come to the two week long party!

12 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on September 2, 2020 in Beauty, Celebration, family, family history, photography, Wedding

Tags: David Wiseman, Ellen Bray, Jane Julian, nom de plume, Postaday2020

Today, Begonias and Mini Pavlova

22 Jun

Early walk, bit of windy gardening, a friend popped round with some scrummy looking strawberries from her garden and another friend told me about a website called Fantastic Fiction where she had found info about Dad’s books. I didn’t know about it so it was fun to see all his books there. I also looked up Jane Julian, the pseudonym he used for his adult historical fiction.

Thanks, H, these were truly scrumptious!

4 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on June 22, 2020 in garden, Photography

Tags: David Wiseman, Jane Julian

Earrings, Story Reading and My Dear Dad

21 Jun

My lovely friend left me three single earrings on the doorstep in this lovely packaging They are gorgeous and I’m hoping will become inspiration for new glass pieces.

I bought a new story book for us to read over Skype to our twin Grandbaby LiveWires. These are such delightful sessions! I was particularly pleased to find this one with mixed race children.

It’s Father’s Day in the UK and I love this this photo of my lovely Dad, used on the cover of his first novel, “Jeremy Visick”, which also shows his favourite cat, Shoshone.

3 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on June 21, 2020 in Grandchildren, Photography, Postaday2020

Tags: David Wiseman, Father's Day, Jeremy Visick, mixed race children, The Fate of Jeremy Visick by David Wiseman, When a Dragon Comes to Stay

A Bench, A Bouquet and Peace

20 Jun

For years we have wondered about having somewhere to commemorate my Mum and Dad and have thought that a bench near Gwennap Church where Dad found his inspiration for his best seller, “Jeremy Visick” would be just perfect. The stream that runs by is mentioned in the story too and the place really is special to all the family. Today, with the blessing of the Vicar, we met the Church warden to discuss how this can happen and where to site the bench – just to the right of the one that is there already. So delighted that this project is finally going to happen. I’ll keep you informed as things progress.

A friend sent a message today to say that in her clearing out she has found some single earrings and can I use them in my glass projects? Yes, I can! I’ve left a little bunch of sweet peas on the doorstep in exchange.

The following words seem right in these strange and discombobulating times. I have posted them before, some four years ago.

Peace

Magpies, Soup and A Gift

15 Mar

I watched a pair of Magpies from the bedroom window this morning. They were working together to break up some thin prunings, obviously collecting for a nest. They were both working really hard!

Magpies collecting nesting material

I left the squash to roast while we were out and so the delicious soup was very quick to make for lunch. If you’d like the recipe, you can find it here.

Thai Spiced Squash soup

A small packet arrived today – the gift of a DVD of the play ‘Jeremy Visick’, derived from my Dad’s book, that I saw at the beginning of the month and wrote about here. The writer and producer also sent me the script to enjoy at leisure. What a very kind and much appreciated gesture.

A very special DVD

2 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on March 15, 2019 in Food, nature, Photography, Postaday 2019

Tags: David Wiseman, Jeremy Visick, Thai Spiced Squash Soup

Thank you Letter, Glass and My Dad

13 Jan

Our kids invariably complained when asked to write Thank you letters but I know they meant something special to my Mum and Dad as I discovered a box full of them when we sorted Dad’s things many years ago. I know even more now how special they were as on Saturday we received a beautiful Thank you letter from one of our LiveWires. It will go into my ‘things to keep’ box.

On the back it says, “Thank you Granny and Grandgrand xx

For Christmas I received all the equipment I need to make pretty glass things without going to more classes. I have just finished my first piece done at home. It will look better hanging with the light through it but I have yet to source the rings for that purpose.

New glass piece with upcycled earrings

On this day in 1916 my Dad was born. He died in December 2004. It doesn’t matter how long ago you lost someone, there are moments when their loss feels like yesterday. We are so lucky to have all his books on our shelves so he is always with us.

Pueblo story-teller and novels by David Wiseman

6 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on January 13, 2019 in art, books, family, glass, Grandchildren, Photography, Postaday 2019

Tags: David Wiseman, gratitude, Jane Julian

Hat Pin, Thimbles and Missing Loved Ones

31 Oct

Sorting yet another drawer today, I found this beautiful hat pin.

Silver and feathers

There has been correspondence in The Guardian recently about The Peterloo Massacre and the fact that this topic is so little known about and is rarely taught in schools. (Is that so, G?) I was reminded of one of my Father, David Wiseman’s, novels and set to this afternoon to re-read it. It’s brilliant! It was published here in the UK, in America and in Denmark and here are the various covers.

The English version

The Danish version

The American version

Reading it, I could hear my Daddy’s voice, see the cottage they once lived in, recognise characteristics of both my Mum and Dad in two of the characters, walk along the Coombe with the main character down to the sea and see again my Mum’s beautiful collection of thimbles. Quite an afternoon.

Missing someone

3 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on October 31, 2018 in America, books, History, Photography, Postaday2018

Tags: David Wiseman, Peterloo Massacre

Sketch, Cookie Cutters and A Leaf

17 Oct

We have had a sketch book of my Dad’s for many years and I thought I had taken out and given away the various sketches. I brought it down today so that the LiveWires can use the paper for their delightful drawings and discovered another of dad’s drawings, of Wheal Busy. My Dad was an author of children’s books and adult historical romances – a man of many talents.