Three Score Years

I cannot believe that sixty years has passed, and in that time what have I achieved on this glorious earth. My English Tutor at High School said on one of my reports, an exceptional piece of Composition, a joy to read. Ever since I can remember of being a child at an early age I always had my head in a book, to feel it's cover and be immersed into another world of fantasy. As I grew older I penned many a short story, or poem, some were not successful, others fortunately were to be published in various magazine's. Maybe one day I shall see a Novel of my hand sitting proudly on the shelf at Waterstones.

The 1960's were a truly memorable time for me, I am thankful I was a part of it, the era of 'Flower Power', The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and mini skirts. A time of no Computers, no electric Typewriters, old coinage. A time where one could leave their door unlocked and not worry about passing strangers.

I was born in Westminster the heart of London, sixty years ago. I lived in a wonderful Town House just off the edge of Baker Street, a street famous for the Sherlock Holmes character. I loved London then, the shops in the City, the night life. Jazz Clubs where Ronnie Scott and Acker Bilk were on the venues. Tiffany's at Piccadilly, which was great for dancing, the Theatres in Shaftesbury Avenue, and of course a frequent visitor to the wonderful Tate Gallery, where I would often be seen spending many a lunch hour during my working day.

So what did I want to do with my life, I had dropped out of University much to my Mother's disagreement, something perhaps I will always regret. I perhaps did have a chance to pursue the path of Journalism, but went and blew it.

I was a tall skinny girl and mad about fashion, and so enrolled myself at Lucy Clayton's Modelling School, this put me in good stead for a career in Modelling in London mainly, where I secured good jobs at the top Couture Fashion Houses, the first being Worth's of Bond Street. I enjoyed my time in London mixing with the different stereo-types, but I soon got bored with this.

So off to Secretarial Collage, after receiving a Diploma I settled into a job working for a Cancer Charity in Dorset Square London where Arthur Askey's sister was my Manager. About this time I was already in a relationship with my future husband, and we were inseparable. Our parents were good friends, and we spent nearly every weekend and summers in Norfolk where my inlaws owned Cottages.

In the 1970's I pursued the path of Nursing, a career to which I would never have thought would tick all the boxes. My darling Mother was quite ill at the time, and when she passed away I was thankful to have least given something back in a way of respect of her. It was a very busy time for me, and my nursing was put on hold for a while until I raised a family.

Yet, I yearned for the country way of life, I wanted to live in a country cottage with Roses around the door, not to be part of the 'rat race' any more. I longed for the solitude and the country air, So here I am, deep in the Norfolk countryside, wonderful scenery, big Norfolk sky's, fantastic beaches, wonderful walks, and some lovely friends who live not far from me.

Then one day in the year of 2006/7 I opened up a certain Magazine and noticed a Columnist Competition to enter, I was curious I wanted to know more, so I decided to take a look on their website. I never did enter the Competition, but I enjoyed reading bloggers diary's, a diary of theirs that would lead to a member securing the winning award of Columnist.

I wont bore you all with the outcome of that Competition, for we all know what it led to, but I am so thankful that I did get to meet some wonderful friends, most of who are with us today. Who knows what may have happened if our darling Westerwitch and Happysnaper had not given us that olive branch, so we could continue our very special Purplecoo Gang.

Crystal has bestowed to me a Thoughtful Blogger award, thank you Crystal I am truly grateful.

Oh, apparantly I am a Snapdragon, caring and loving, but with a sense of mischief, oooh, can't resist a girlie prank..!!

I leave you with a piece by the writer Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) and a Poem.

Inspire

Nothing that has ever been thought and said with a clear mind and pure ethical strength is totally in vain; even if it comes from a weak hand and is imperfectly formed, it inspires the ethical spirit to constantly renewed creation.

The World Improvers

We have believed in too many things
We of little faith,
Have theorized too heedlessly
We of little hope,
Imposed our schemes for the world's good,
We of little love,
Thinking ourselves of too great worth,
We of little shame;
That we alone could pierce the dark,
We of little sight.

There is a candle which to each is given,
With a little, gentle flame,
Worldwide fires with ours we kindled,
Better had been a little light.

A MIRACLE - ROBBIE BOY

A miracle happened today. At about 2pm this afternoon I was going through to the kitchen to make a pot of tea, I kept looking at the clock as I knew I had to take Robbie my very ill dog to see the Vet at 3pm which was only twenty minutes drive away. I had already rung my husband at work lunchtime to ask if he would meet me there, as I knew I would be totally overcome with emotion if my dog had to be put to sleep. As I poured the hot water onto the P.G.Tips, I looked around and saw Robbie had got out of his basket and although quite wobbly, began to walk around the room. I was speechless, as Victor Meldrew would have said - " I dont believe it".!

Exactly two weeks ago today Robbie first became ill with Epileptic Fits, the Vet had said he may have eaten something along the Country Lane near the fields where I walk him, which caused him to have Liver Infection, which in turn caused him to fit. These last couple of weeks have been "touch and go", but I have followed the Vet's instructions to administer the neccesary medication and to feed water and liquidised food through a syringe about four times a day. This of course I have managed to do, but what was worrying me more than anything was Robbie's incapability to even walk or stand on his own, or not even being able to empty his bowels and bladder properly. He would just do it in the basket, or I would have to lift him out and hold him hoping that he would aim onto the scattered newspaper I had layered on the floor. I must say there have been endless hours of buckets and mops with disinfectant.

Robbie has had no more fits since last Wednesday evening, it may be because the kindly Vet had decided to give Robbie a full anaesthetic and put on a drip, as to sedate the body, hoping that once he came out of it his body would re-charge again without more fits. Well it seems to have worked as no more fits, that is not to say he will not have another anytime.

The big question I had intended to ask the Vet this afternoon was - "Do I need to end his suffering"? as Robbie had not seemed to have any quality of life left. He said that if it was his dog he would not put him to sleep, and we need to give him a chance. The drugs was making him completely "stoned" out of his mind, he said a bit like an Alcoholic who gets used to drinking, they get used to the liquor, the body gets used to it. So this evening I have my dog back home with me, A miracle indeed, especially now after two weeks he took his first steps again today, something that I did not think would ever happen again. I have nursed him with all the TLC I could possibly give him these last two weeks, and will continue to do so in the fight to his recovery.

Thank you to one and all for being just absolute darlings with your messages and concern with love and hugs along the way. Means so much to me, and has helped me enormously to cope with my anxious days and nights.

Camilla.x

HOMEWORK

I have done my Homework, Un Peu has tagged me, see original blog of BlossomCottage.

The smell of freshly baked cakes and bread, as a child I remember my mother's baking day for these on a Saturday. I would eagerly wait for the dough mixture to rise in the old Black Cooking Range. I liked to help of course, with several large old-fashioned mixing bowls and a wooden spoon. Loved to dip my finger into the uncooked ingredients before they were popped into the oven, then the joy of being able to taste and smell the delights when all was cooked.

Recently I treated myself to some Sherlock Holmes DVD'S, my favourite actor who portrays Sherlock for me has to be Jeremy Brett. Nothing better than on a cold winter's evening, by the warmth of the crackling fire, to relax and watch an episode acting out the lives amongst exciting excesses of Victorian London. The sound of the Horse's hooves over the Victorian cobbled strets, there is something quite wonderful about the sound of a Horse's gallop, or trot.

Bonfires in the garden, not the burning of fireworks, but the the smell of the twigs and bracken smouldering. Pine Cones blazing on the hearth, after one has collected them from the Pine Forest. The smell of it's perfume that fills the air, and also brings back memories of when my children were small and they would delight in being able to gather up as many as possible to stack into their baskets.

The sound of Church Bells ringing in the distance, my local Church with it's magnificent architecture, can be seen from my kitchen window. On a Sunday morning it's peel can be heard from across the fields.

The smell of my dogs fur, nothing nicer. All the devotion I give them is given right back, but I also believe that owning a pet can keep stress levels down. Stroking my furry friends prompts my brain to release "feel good" hormones, and helps calm me.

I have always been at one with children, I just adore to hear them talking and laughing, and no matter whose child in a family I happen to encounter, it fills my heart with a desire to listen as they express their personality.

The crunching of pure White snow beneath one's feet, not the slushy type, when the warmer air or rain has changed it's beauty.

The smell of a newborn baby, as you hold towards your skin, so wonderful.

I like to use a pen with a nib to write, dipped into a bottle of Royal Blue Ink, and hear the slight scratch of the quill as it touches the paper.

A smell of a book, be it freshly new from publication, or be it an old Antiquarian Edition, the joy has stayed with me from that since I read my first bok as a child.

Scent of a flower especially a Rose, with it's heady perfume, which can be quite intoxicating.

The sounds of birds singing and chirping, and a Pigeon or Dove cooing on a fresh new morning, with window open I glory in the sheer beauty of their beautiful voices.

A Poem

A RAINBOW

A rainbow arched the waterfall

Myriads of colours, shapes and sounds,

Everything kaleidoscopic

Against a blackdrop of rock,

Together we stood in awe

Glimpsing a miracle.

Then you offered me your hand

To help me climb the falls,

I climbed alone,

Choosing to be

Yet never wanting to be

A lonely poet.

Camilla.x

SO HONOURED

Dear Cait has bestowed to me an Award, for that I am most grateful. I try to be creative as best I can, to seek deep into my imaginations. Now I have eaten the "pudding", I will endeavour to create my ability to capture my "Scents and Sounds" this evening.

Camilla.x

PRINCESS DIANA

On the 31st August 1997 while I was arousing from my sleep , my husband brought me a cup of tea in bed, not something I hasten to add does he do quite frequently, however, I was grateful for the brew. I had just finished working four night shifts at the hospital. My husband sat on the edge of the bed and told me the sad news of Princess Diana, I broke down, the ever emotional type.

Today there is going to be a Memorial Service to Commemorate Princess Diana's life. I too believe that she was an extraordinary woman who touched the lives of millions, as the Prime Minister wrote at the weekend, but I argue the opinion of the feminist Germaine Greer who said Diana was a "devious moron" desperate for attention.

Diana's status as a fetching international celebrity involved charitable works, and the public sympathy she engendered in the long. When she took over as a Patron of the Children's Charity Barnado's, she attended sixteen events in one year alone, more than the previous Royal who only attended once in a year. Diana touched the lives of many, and had the ability to make everybody feel special, particularly vunerable young people, who felt her warmth and affection.

People either loved Diana or they loathed her, I think there were many who did not understand her, and I have heard critics say that Diana did not understand herself even. I wonder though, if that tragic fatal accident in Paris had not occured, and Diana had been happy in her marriage to her Prince Charming, she would have eventually reigned The Queen Of Hearts over our nation.

The picture is of Princess Diana and a young girl at a Charity Cancer Event.

My Poem

THE ROSE

I grew a Rose, a Pink Rose in my garden

I grew a Pink Rose so lovely to see;

I watched as it changed from sweet bud to

fulfillment

Meaning to pluck it, and give it to thee.

Delicate, fragrant, with beauty so deep,

Caressed by the warm sun, kissed by the rain,

Lovely the Rose that I grew in my Garden,

Alas, for the Pink Rose, it grew there in vain.

For oft did I tell the Pink Rose of thy beauty,

But with such beauty it could not compete;

Slowly it faded, it's fragrance departed,

Sadly it's petals then fell at my feet.

For such is thy beauty, that none can compare,

Not even sweet Angels in Heaven would dare,

Could ye walk through Fair Eden, I know there

would be,

Each bloom with it's head bowed

In deference to thee.

Camilla.x

CHOOSING A MAGAZINE

I went into my local Post Office yesterday morning to buy a Magazine for a friend. As I was browsing through them I could hear two women chatting about so many to choose from. I spied one lady who I thought I recognised, going up to her I said, "excuse me, but you're Kate's mother I do believe"?. "No sorry, you must have me mixed up with someone else, funny how some people look alike". She then went on to say, "I have come in to buy my favourite Country Living Magazine, oh I do like them, deliciously filled with so many gorgeous things, and I like the continuity of the editions". I replied, " I used to have that one, but so many advertisements in them now". I went on to say about the Columnist Competition, but did not say who I was. "Oh, she said, I dont know too much about that at all, wanting to quickly rush to the counter to pay for it.

Very strange I thought considering she takes the Country Living every month, I wonder - you dont think she is the DARKHORSE one do you?

The picture is titled FIRST LOVE and is by the Artist, JIM DALY.

Camilla.x

Thank You

Thank you so much for a great party Dear Westerwitch, and Happysnaper, so too Dear Lixtroll and Peat. Not forgetting all the help given by all other admin.

It is incredible how we have grown here amongst a wonderful circle of friends, and although we all have our own daily lives to be amongst our family, it is nice to know that out there we are all supporting one another one way or another, even if it be in cyber-space.

Camilla.x