TRYING TO MAKE A GREY DAY PRETTY ..........

Skies are very grey and overcast, here in the U.K. and there is another threat of sleet and snow so, here are a few beautiful grey images to get us through these long wintry days.
How about this for a beautiful study in grey ?

That's probably where my brolly will end up when I'm out tomorrow.

A lovely place to be with friends and family on a warm summer's evening.......Oh, that seems a very long way away !!

I always keep my Jimmy Choo's on the sash window, don't you ?

Altogether now .......... Aaaaaahhhhh

Gorgeous...............

.......... more gorgeous ..........

.......... and even more gorgeous !!

Sigh......

The promise of summer..........

.......... and, just before I go.... another Aaaaaahhhhh !!

Well. There we are. Something to lift the mood on this grey , winter's day here in the U.K.

Have a great day everyone, wherever you are.

Jackie

A LITTLE PIECE OF ' HOME ' ..........

As you will see from the following photographs, I have entered my ' grey period ' !! Here you will find some things that are around our ' HOME '. The crown tea light holder was a present sent to me for Christmas, from Luiza @ Feelings. It sits there so nicely with my candlesticks and mercury glass lanterns.

Just before Christmas, I won a giveaway from Michelle @ Petit Coterie . It was the cushion that you see above. I have already got quite a few of her cushions and when I won the cushion I ordered some of her fabric to cover a rocking chair. With what was left over, I covered the cushion on the chair above. I will show you the rocking chair another time.

This is an old shelf that I painted and distressed and, laying next to the jug is a heart that Luiza made and sent with my present. She must have known that I was in my ' grey ' phase.

Here's a closer look. Isn't it pretty ?

This isn't a very good photograph of it but, can you see the gift tag with the cross ? Well, they come from the very talented Magdalena @ Color Sepia. I ordered some Christmas cards from Magdalena and she sent the gift tags and the cross for me. The 'J' and the 'C' are my husband and my initials and are printing blocks.

An old white jug and dried agapanthus, rose and eucalyptus.

A grey metal heart on one of my cupboards.

This is a wax picture that my sister bought me from Hungary.

This is one of the Christmas cards that Magdalena made and a rusty laurel wreath. Our house is called ' The Laurels ' so whenever I see anything to do with laurels, I buy it !

The hand and heart I bought when we were in Carmel. I have quite a few things with the hand and heart theme. I think that it is an Amish saying: 'Put your hands to work and your heart to God '.

These are my pieces of sea glass and shells that Gigi @ The Magpies Fancy gave me when I won her giveaway. She collected them from the beach and put them in the parcel as a little extra. I love them and they are on the mantelpiece in our study.

Well, there's a little look at a few of the things that are around our house. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

Jackie

WE THINK THAT IT'S COLD IN THE U.K. BUT ..........

NIAGRA FALLS ..........

On six reported occasions (1883, 1896, 1904, 1909, 1936 and 1947) , the water flow over the American Falls has been totally blocked by ice and ceased to fall, but only once has this happened to the much larger Horseshoe Falls (originally known as the Canadian Falls).

There appears to have been nothing terribly unusual about the winter of 1847-48 nor the onset of Spring in March BUT, when the local residents awoke on the morning of 30th March 1848, something felt wrong.......... indeed,something sounded wrong. There was silence. No roaring water filled the ambient background as it had every morning. Many rushed to the falls and saw rock and ice. The Niagra river had stopped flowing and both the Horseshoe Falls and the American Falls had stopped falling..................

........... and here are some more extreme weather photographs from more recent times........

That looks a bit like my car under there !!!!

THE GREATEST MYSTERY IS NOT THAT WE HAVE BEEN FLUNG AT RANDOM BETWEEN THE PROFUSION OF MATTER AND OF THE STARS, BUT THAT WITHIN THIS PRISON WE CAN DRAW FROM OURSELVES IMAGES POWERFUL ENOUGH TO DENY OUR NOTHINGNESS.

ANDRE MALRAUX

(1901-1976)

Jackie

HAPPY 101 or 10 THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY ..........

My dear friends, Simone @ The Bottom of the Ironing Basket and Lori @ Wildflowers have both bestowed on me ...............

..........The Happy 101 Award. Many thanks you two, for my first award of 2010. I now have to tell you 10 things that make me happy, so here goes ...............

The first thing that makes me happy are my children. They have been the best. They have never given me any trouble and have been a delight. They have given me so much pleasure over the years and I have loved looking after them. At this point, I think that I should also mention my husband and all of the other members of my family, too !!!!

The next thing that makes me happy is my home. I love being in it, decorating it and, looking after it. We are, after all, just caretakers of our homes. Someone has been looking after my home since 1895. One day, someone else will bring up a family in it but, for now, I look after it. It has been known that, after decorating a room, I turn all of the lights on, go outside, run over the road and see what it looks like !!!!

I love music and music makes me really happy. I was brought up in a house that was full of music. My Dad was a musician and played saxophone and clarinet and my Mum was a singer. Just before a gig, my Dad would limber up on his saxophone, under the stairs. This had something to do with the acoustics !! We would all sit and watch films like 'The Glenn Miller Story' and 'The Jazz Singer' and Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. My son has followed in his grandparents footsteps. He was musical in the womb !! and studied music at University. He now works in the music business. Our house was always full of music, from classical to hard rock and from Kylie to Nirvana, depending on their musical tastes of the time. My music taste is just as diverse. It has to be loud. There's nothing better for lightening your mood than playing music in your car and singing at the top of your voice !!

My friends make me really happy. There's nothing nicer than lunch or dinner with good friends and changing the world or discussing the trials and tribulations of life.

I am lucky that I have the disposition of liking good and bad weather. I don't think that I could live in a country that had hot weather, all of the time. I love the rain. How nice is it to be snuggled up in your warm bed and hearing the rain beat against the window pane ?. I like being out in it too and getting wet. By the way, I absolutely LOVE hot weather, too !!

As much as I like company, being alone makes me happy too. It's a good time for contemplation and reflection. I really like my own company and am comfortable with it.

Something that doesn't make me happy is housework but it's something that has to be done and I do it reluctantly. ...... but when it's all done , there's nothing nicer than ..........

.......... going out and buying a big bunch of flowers and taking them home for that final, finishing touch. Flowers make me happy.

This is a bit slushy, but I do love giving presents. I like thinking what people would like, I like wrapping them beautifully and I like seeing their faces when they open them. Don't get me wrong. I also LOVE receiving them too, but, giving makes me happy.

While I am writing this post, it is snowing and, we are supposed to have the coldest winter for 100 years. Snow does make me happy. There's something so special, when you wake up to that strange silence and, when you look out of the window you're normal surroundings have been turned into a wonderful, white wonderland, and it all looks so pretty.

Laughing obviously makes me happy. The two go hand in hand. My friends and I laugh all of the time. It is the best medicine in the world and I suggest that you all laugh at least once a day. Dr. Jackie's orders !!

............... and the final thing that makes me REALLY happy is Sgroppino. It is a 'digestivo' drunk mainly in the Venetian area of Italy. It is bright, fresh and clean and is made by whipping together Italian Prosecco, lemon sorbet and vodka and,I can tell you that, after a few of them, I am the happiest girl in the world !!!!!!

Oooops.... I got so carried away I've given you eleven things that make me happy !!!! I am obviously feeling extra happy today. I hope that I haven't broken any rules. Let's hope that the blogging police don't come and take me away !!

Right, now I have to pass the award on so here goes :

Luiza @ Feelings
Maggie @ The White Farmhouse
Susie @ The Mill House

Gigi @ The Magpie's Fancy

Ange @ Signed By Ange

Julie @ Being Ruby

Mise @ Pretty Far West

Jane @ My Pear Tree House

If you girls feel so inclined, we would all like to hear about the 10 things that make you happy

.

FORGET YOUR TROUBLES, COME ON, GET HAPPY.

Jackie

THE REAL MEANING OF WORDS ..........

COMPASSION

BEST FRIENDS

INNOCENCE

PATIENCE

RESCUED

LOVE

FRIENDSHIP

STRANGER

SORROW

DIVINE


LIFE IS NOT ABOUT WAITING FOR THE STORMS TO PASS ..........IT'S ABOUT LEARNING HOW TO DANCE IN THE RAIN.


Jackie