~A day in the life of an ordinary person~

My favorite spot when the world gets me down. I sit here, and watch the fish jump, and listen to the birds wings.

And then there are these two little treasures..........

I simply remember my favorite things -- and then I don't feeeel so bad.

Well November has flown by, and we are fast approaching the season of goodwill, and hope -- whether we want to or not!

It has been an interesting month full of things I love. 

Mother Nature has finally switched the humidity switch to off position at last.  The weather is still nice, the sun is still out, and most of the tourists have gone leaving this paradise Isle to the residents.

My Guy Fawkes talk went very well, I went to the Local Prep school, we had Treacle Toffee, and a virtual firework display.

The highlight of the month was the weekend in Savannah. I love Savannah, it has so much charm, and character. 

Here  we have a typical Savannah scene. A well dressed gent strolling through the sun drenched square, the square that was saved in the civil war from being burned. After the city was conquered by Union forces in late 1864 -- "I beg to present you as a Christmas-gift the city of Savannah," Gen. William T. Sherman famously telegraphed President Lincoln -- and that is why it is the only surviving southern town.  

It has the Southern charm, with a feel of Europe. While we were there we went to the children's book festival. It was such a lovely atmosphere. Met a few authors. 

We went to a wedding that night, in the Hilton Hotel. One of A's friends got married. 

 

It was all very magical.

Then there was the polo match..

and the walk... 

A lot to be thankful for..............HAPPY THANKSGIVING.........
 

Lets take a walk on the wild side!

The Guy Fawkes talk went very well, they loved the treacle toffee, and the pennies. 

I don't have any pictures yet though. Stay tuned.

The school is next to Sea Pines resort, and so I had a little walk round

•   Went Dolphin spotting with the locals
• Then had some lunch over looking the yacht club with this guy -- he wasn't much company though, a little cold, and steely faced
   
  
•  I thought of kayaking, but nah........
  
• Then it was off to the Baynard ruins. At one time all of Sea Pines belonged to a rice plantation, and this is the old ruins. It was originally  built in the tabby style -- all oyster shells... 
  
• Nothing much left of the slave quarters..
• Let's now go into the nature reserve, and see what we can spot. It is quite spooky, because it looks like you are entering a jungle. There is no one around, just the chirping of birds, rustling in the bushes ............
  We are walking on the boardwalk over the old rice fields. Hard to imagine those poor slaves working away in the heat. No bug repellent, no deodorant, and no bottled water urghh...
• Oh look at this little fellow... sunning himself
   
• and this one 
  
• let's not stay around and see if Mama is here......
  
  
• Quick, lets head back, what is that splashing noise?
  
• Ahhhhh, it's Daddeeee -- run!
  
• Ah, there she is, my little sunny bug to the  rescue, get in, lets go home!!
  
  

Holy Gaucamole!

                                         ____________________________

Yep, here's Skippyjon Jones AKA me!

Here I am in action at the annual teddy bear reading.  My ears are toooo beeeg for my ed, my ed is toooo big for my body, I am not a Siamese cat, I AM a CHIHUAHUA. 

Ha, my fellow story teller at work understands me, not many other do. 

The exiting thing is I e-mailed the author of the book, and she e -mailed me back to wish me luck, and sent me a picture of the real Skippyjon

Skippy

Tomorrow I do a Guy Fawkes talk in the Local Prep school, I will let you know how it goes, stay tuned dudes...............

 

Oh Happy days and weeks ......

It has been quite a week. 

It all started when A and I went to fix the brakes on my car last Saturday. It was rainy, and miserable. The garage was closed, so we went looking at new cars in the lot.  

Next thing we know, we are going on test drives

Next thing we know we are bargaining with a very good salesman. 

Next thing I know they are asking me to pick a color.  Everyone knows my dream car is a little yellow one, so I picked yellow.

Next thing I know a yellow Yaris arrives for my inspection from another town. 

Next thing I know I am driving out in my new yellow Yaris --pinch me!

I was on strong tablets for my kidney infection at the time, so it really did feel like a dream. I still can't believe it.............Meet Dotty BB Bug the newest love of my life.
Isn't she cute?   Wow, I have never had a real car of my own before, ever. 

It was the annual Teddy bear P.J. read at the early learning school center this week as well. I have been doing this for years, and usually go as my good friend, Skippyjon

                                                   

Jones.  This year was no exception.  The adults love to hear me do the kitty boy's muy muy Spanish accent.   I read the new book, 'Lost in spice' It is quite a tricky book to read.  A lot of Spanish in there!  The organization this year wasn't to good.  Four people had 20 mins to  read a book each, that meant only five minutes each person. My act involved voices, songs, and props darn it --  I felt rushed.  I ended up skipping whole pages out, and messing up the songs.   The kids didn't know any different, they were all concentrating on clapping when I asked them too..... The adults looked a bit confused though.  

I am so grateful to be back on the planet earth again after being in so much pain.  I was lost in spice there for a while as well. 

We made an advertisement for the library a while back, and it was released this week. I watched it all happen while I just did my job.  You can imagine my surprise when I came to see the finished product. I am in it for a second, and all the people who had spent all day rehearsing weren't!

Beaufort library advert    

 

Ouch

I have been dogged these last few months with a reoccurring Kidney infection.  It is driving me mad, and getting in the way of my busy life style.  How inconvenient to spend my days off in the doctors office, in labs, and on the couch.  It is very painful, and very frustrating.  Still, I have got lots to do while I sit on my poor, sore behind.  

 

Just take a look at this treasure above. This belonged to my Dad's Mum.  My Grandmother. Unfortunately, we were not particularly close, even though we lived with my Grandparents when I was younger.  I had a dream that my Grandmother was a witch the very night we moved in with them.  It turned out not to be so far from the truth -- But, she was my Grandmother, and that is another story!

Before she died a few years after my Grandfather, she lived in a little flat crammed full of all the treasures once held in a much larger house.  I  was a shy seventeen year old, and a little confused  when she departed this world, especially when my Uncle came over from Canada, and banned my brother and I  from going in the flat until he had 'sorted' it out.  Meaning, I suppose -- got all the things of value back to Canada on the next ship.  My Dad was equally as weird.  These old things didn't mean a thing to me -- why would I want them?  My Brother, and I were told to go and choose something to remember our Grandparents by a week or so after the 'sorting' out was completed.

By the time we went in there there was just a pile of books on the floor, and some old saucepans.  I tell a lie, there were a pair of souvenir clogs from Cornwall.   

"I don't really want anything", I whispered to my Brother. 

"Neither do I", he replied.

"I do need a kettle though", he giggled.  "And there is one in the kitchen, shall I take it"? He asked.

So he took the kettle, and I looked for an old encyclopedia which I remembered looking at for hours at a time when I was small. It had flaps showing the insides of people, and animals.  I loved that book, and it smelt wonderfully old.   It wasn't there though, so I took this book.....
It's from 1910, a Sunday school prize.  To Miss Emily Fryer (my Grandmother must have been about 8 years old).  Even though we weren't close -- the book meant a lot to me. It still does

I took the clogs as well.

 

My poor brother got told off for taking the kettle, and had to return it.  My stepmother already had a claim on it -- apparently -- geez.
 

A true love affair

There are different kinds of book people. There are the people who come into the library to borrow novels, and read them. They don't care about the book, how it feels, how it smells.  They just demand a few days entertainment from that chunk of paper, and ink.

There are the book lovers, who love to read, and own the books. They love the written word.

Then there are to book lovers like me.  Obsessive book lovers, who are not content to borrow a book for a couple of weeks, we want to own them.  We want to touch them, smell them, feel them, be with them.  Now, I know a lot of book lovers, so I know I am not alone in this obsession.  We would spend our last dollar not on food, but on a bargain book.

When working in the bookstore, I used to often get caught sniffing books.  There is nothing on earth as good as the smell of a new book, hold on, yes there is -- an old one!  I would be walking down an aisle, and one of my fellow booksellers  would shout.  "  I can see you, Wendy, I see you sneak a book sniff in there".
I used to teach my fellow bibliophiles how to sniff books.  There are many different smells. I can determine the age, content, and quality of a tome with one sniff.  Old books are intoxicating. New books can sometimes smell too inky if they are cheaply made, like the mass markets. The mass markets can smell downright vinegary at times.  The best book is the hardcover with the shiny pages, usually illustrated.  The best book I have ever smelt was the American version Harry potter books by scholastic.

When A, and I lived in England, he had his own little 'business on the side"  working with my friends Dad who bought auction houses, and gutted them. He would renovate the house, and then sell it again.  Alan did the electrics in the house, usually re-wiring the whole place.  These houses usually belonged to some poor old soul who didn't have any family.  They had usually lived in the house for donkeys years.  I used to go to some of these houses with A, and found the whole experience both fascinating, and incredibly sad.

On one occasion, we went into a house before it had been cleared.  My friends Dad had no sentiment, to him this was his business. He would take out anything of value, and sell it in his Antique store. The rest he would leave to a house clearer.  we went in this house just before the house clearer did. It had been ransacked, beloved items all over the floor, in piles, everywhere.  All the so called valuables had been taken. Alan did his work around the mess, and I started to look at all the things.  I found myself in tears as I looked through all the many black and white photo's of happy people on holiday.  Babies on fur rugs.  Old ladies in full victorian black dress.  I found an old Brownie camera, and showed Alan.  We looked it over, and the back popped open. Darn it, there was a film inside, we could have kicked ourselves. We could have got the film developed. 
There was alsorts of trinkets, and treasures. 
Then I came across this.......

A 1900 Boar war soldiers bible.
Here is the front, and

This is the back cover, and then inside...............
on the last page is a pressed flower -- a forget me not.  From his love no doulbt.  The good news is that he made it back from the war. He probably married his love, and that was the couple who lived in the house.  I couldn't leave this treasure to just be thrown in the skip, and be destroyed. I had to keep it. That was the moment I fell in love with books, and their meaning.  I have been collecting them ever since, and they all have a story to tell......................

picture of the day

This was my Japanese Maple tree last October -- looking forward to more crisp weather, and to be able to wear cloths without being uncomfortably humid, sticky, and hot. We had a lightning storm last night, it was quite something.  Still not any cooler because of it.  Funny how Mother nature know when to make the leaves turn even when the weather is the same. 

It's always Friday, and it's always a full moon here on the Island in the sun!

Weeks are flying by.  Nearly October - Wow

It has been a good, busy week at the library.  Lots of new patrons.  Did Oprah feature the library on her show or something?  Geez.

We had a lot of grumpy people in this week though -- always a full moon on this island in the sun. I happened to mention that in front of a patron the other day, unfortunately, I don't think she was amused. Mind you, it was hard to read her expression, she had had so much botox, and plastic surgery. Maybe some one should warn these people that too much plastic surgery makes one look like 'the joker' from Batman.  really, just look at poor old Meg Ryan,

 Then there was the secret overnight removal of the four foot long Copperhead snake.  Yes, I am glad I knew about the fact after it was removed. They found it in the eternal christmas tree in the foyer.  Some one said it had been there all along, but we all know it was seen slinking around  non fiction the day before. 

Skip is amazing. It is as if he has always been part of our family.

Colin Firth constantly amazes me. I love him, in a respectful, high regard sort of way. I love the way he handles himself, he is a gentleman.  I found out that he was a supporter of asylum seekers. He wants people to be safe in their own country though -- bless him. Lots of Asylum seekers end up in UK though.

UK  takes in asylums from war torn countries, and then the ignoramuses that become their neighbors abuse them. The problem is that Britain is such a small country, and it is a asylum for everyone, including terrorist, and corrupt politicians.  It has become one big mental asylum actually-- the government has ruined it all for the proud British people. They are no longer a nation of gentleman (apart from Colin Firth) they are a nation of bitter passive aggressive peoples, or generally aggressive peoples.

 I happened upon this book at the library, and now I understand Colin's plight. It is a collection of stories about how asylum kids adapting (or not) to the awful things happening in their own country, their horrific escapes, and then what they endure in the new country. This new country is usually UK. I admire Colin and Britain for that, but lets control the asylum.

If I became famous, and had the money to help people, I certainly would ( like Colin) find something close to my heart involving cruel treatment to fellow humans, anduse my fame to  make people aware of situations. I suppose we can all make a  difference if we want to whether we are rich or poor, by just treating our fellow humans whether they be black, white, or yellow, with a respect you would expect your self.  

It has now become my mission to own every Colin Firth movie. I must admit that some of them are really bad!  Easy Virtue on the other hand is absolutely fantastic, darling. what a funny, clever film from the genius of Noel Coward. 

Easy Virtue