Sorting Out

Yesterday we started sorting through the things at Mum's, there were 11 of us there at one point. It was sad at times and funny at others, Rachel was sorting through a cupboard and found my swimming certificates and old school photographs, this gave everyone a laugh. Then she found old photo's of my brother with his long curly hair, he now shaves his head, so that caused a bit of a stir, the younger ones don't remember him with hair! It was amazing how many cards Mum had kept, we found cards that were sent when I was born, sadly most of the other cards have been put in the recycling. We just cant keep everything, it has made me think about the things that I hoard. One treasure we found was a black doll that Mum had when she was evacuated during the second world war, she gave it to me when I was little. I can remember walking in the garden with it, Mum then came out and took it back. Then when Rachel was small Mum gave it to her, but mysteriously it went back into her cupboard again, obviously she couldn't part with it. Poor thing it needs some tlc after being shut up for so long I'm going to find out where I can get her repaired. Today James and Becky are taking clothes to the charity shop, we still have a long way to go! It really isn't easy sorting out what to keep and what to throw away, obviously all these things meant something to Mum.

In the afternoon I watched the matched, 90 minutes of my life gone that I'll never get back.Dave is still fiddling with the watering system, I was only joking when I said he had a new hobby, but I think I might be right!!!!

I've come across this blog through Gina have a look at Silverpebble it's a lovely blog and she's doing a pass the book.


I hope I win I loved Cranford when it was on the TV and would like to read the book. I could do with my luck turning! In fact I've just this minute decided that if I don't win I'm going to buy the book for myself.

Yet Another Busy Time

I know I've not posted for a while but I have been busy. Last week I met a friend, she made me a lovely lunch, we went to an exhibition of City and Guilds Diploma work. Some of the class we did our Certificate with have gone on to do modules from the diploma. Their work is lovely but I'm so glad I decided not to carry on. I would never have coped with everything that has happened during the last year and I'm better off going to Material Girls and The Art Quilt Group and enjoying them.
This week I went to the Quilt Group, I'm getting on ok with the wall hanging, it's going into an exhibition in September. I need to be quilting it by the next time we meet. Thursday I met up with friends and went to see the Julia Capara Textile School Graduation show, there was more work there this year that I liked. No images sorry couldn't take photos! We then walked to Spitalfield Market and went to Luxe a cafe, we were shown to our table by John Torode of Master Chef fame!

Friday was a bit of a mixed day, in the morning I went to my Mum's sisters funeral, the last of her siblings to pass away, it wasn't a nice thing to go to so soon after Mum. I went with my brother we didn't go on to the wake.

(The Barbican, I'd love to live there, need to win the lottery first!)


In the afternoon I took the train up to London and met Dave, Rachel and Alec, James was performing at the Barbican with Gyratory System, they were part of the Blaze Free Events. They were really really good, plenty of new songs in the set that I've not heard before. It was a strange event it took place in the foyer so people were wondering through, some carried on through while others sat down and listened.

The Band


Lights above the stage

James on stage

Alec had something else on after so just four of us went to Smith's of Smithfield for dinner, just by chance a John Torode restaurant, we have been there before, so I suppose you could say we like the food.

Today Dave has discovered a new hobby trying to get an automatic watering system set up. The weather here is really hot and I cant remember when we last had rain. Sadly the set up isn't as easy as he thought but he's a persevering!

Tomorrow we are all going to Mum's to starting sorting out the house. It's a job that none of us really want to do!

Good Plan

Mum's funeral was last Tuesday,are funeral's ever nice events? NO. Music was played readings where read, prayers where said and she was gone, not forgotten. The service at the crematorium was sad, it was taken by the vicar that exactly a year before had taken Mum's eldest sisters funeral and the year before that my cousin's husbands. Mum chose him, she chose the music too, all except the last piece which I chose Mrs Darcy's theme by the Royal Philharmonic orchestra a piece from Pride and Prejudice. My brother and sister in law chose a poem, a very sad day. There were about 100 people there, family and friends, Mum's neighbours. Then it was on for the wake, it was nice to be able to meet up and to say thank you to everyone that had been so supportive to Mum and us during her illness. Bloody cancer! Will there ever be a cure found so it can be wiped from this earth? No one deserves it do they? Sorry just venting here.



(these are the flowers that I ordered from a florist to go onto food table at the wake, then forgot to tell the venue where they were to go. As we were leaving a lovely lady came rushing out saying don't forget the flowers. We all looked at each other and said I don't remember seeing them on the table. The venue thought we were going to present them to someone and kept them in the office, still they look nice in my fire place, Mum would have thought it was funny.And you cant think of everything.)

In the evening my family, my brothers family and my sister in laws parents,(they had flown over from Spain where they live,to be with us) went out for a meal. We went to Mum's favorite restaurant, my brother made a toast to Mum at the start and as Mum loved her pudding everyone had to have one at the end, even if they where stuffed. It was such a brilliant idea to all be together, just us, 14 in all. As my brother said about the wake and the evening there was one person missing and she would have loved it everyone being together MUM!!!

I said to Dave that for 28 years I came from a one parent family and now I'm an orphan, he pointed out you don't get many 50something orphans!!!

Life is starting to get into a routine, I'm sorting everything out as soon I can. I realise that things take time, we have Mum's house to sort and then sell, but I'm not on my own.

Friday I dyed some fabrics so this week I plan to get work done. Lots of ideas, hooray!
Saturday I went to ERTF committee meeting lots going on there.Dave went with Rachel to some event about new homes in East London, she's doing something very grown up, buying an apartment! But she will have to move home for a while as her lease runs out soon and her friend is moving in with her boyfriend, Rachel's not at that stage yet.
Sunday we meet Super Gran and other half for lunch, we all ate to much.
Today I met my brother for lunch and a chat about various things, it's all food at the moment!
I'm meeting a friend at the end of the week for lunch, I feel as though I have lots to catch up on.

Talking about catching up, the garden has been very neglected this year and the foxgloves have taken over, I counted over 40 separate plants. I do love them but 40 is to many in a small garden, the colours vary from white to very pale lilac's, it's to late to dig them up now! The plan is to mark the plants to keep and when they finish flowering get rid of the unwanted ones.Good plan will it work, never I'm not that organised but I'd like to be.

Memories

First of all I'd like to say thank you for all of your lovely comments. I think that in strange way it's helped me by blogging about what my family having been going through over the last few months, sorry if it's been depressing! There would be nothing gained by writing about Mum's last few days, except to say that any doubts that I had had about Mum going into a nursing home vanished into thin air, she couldn't have received better care anywhere else. There is a regret though the lunch with her friends had to be canceled, it should have been arranged a few weeks earlier.
An older cousin of mine phoned me to say how sorry she was about my Mum and that she thought my Mum was always great fun.She remembered Mum taking down the washing line to show us all how to skip, and how we always had lovely Christmas together at my house. There would have probably been about a dozen children and often some would sleep over so we would top and tail in the beds! I didn't remember the skipping but I do remember my cousin bringing her friends to my house and my Mum making face packs for them and I thought it was so 'cool' to have these older girls at my house, with their 'Dusty Springfield' hair and make up! Odd the things that stay in your memory.
A blog isn't quite right without a photo, and so another memory, my family were all for days out when I was young, picnics at Hatfield Forrest with games of rounders or trips to the coast. One trip to the coast ended up as a big disaster for me, but at least I had clothes on at the end!!! Super Gran, my brother and I were on the boating lake at Southwold, for some reason we kept changing boats from peddle boats to canoes and then back again(not sure where our parents were at this point). While swapping Super Gran started to do the splits with one leg on the shore and one in a boat, thought I'd save the day and stood up in my canoe which promptly overturned, the lake wasn't deep and I stood up covered in green slime,yuuk! I was fully dressed, I ended up wearing Super Grans clothes and she wore her swimming costume all day, good job she loves me? In 2005 we went on a trip down memory lane to Southwold, the lake wasn't as big as I remembered, but I wouldn't take a boat out, you just never know. As you can see from this photo Southwold and I don't get on this is a photo of Mum, Rachel and Me!!!!!

And of course the obligatory 'beach huts'