Pushing an Elephant up the Stairs

Thirteen Things I miss now I'm home...

1. The sun - the way it crept through the window in the mornings and woke me up.
2. The sea - the colours that changed as the light changed. Being able to walk beside it any time I wanted to.  Watching pleasure boats and fishing boats enter and leave the harbout.
3. Going out in the evening.
4. Meeting new people.
5. Bekri Mez - my favourite meal at a resteraunt called Alexandros
6. Drinking Magaritas
7. Drinking iced coffee and eating my favourite pastry.
8. Waking early and looking forward to the day.
9. The trees and the sound of crickets.
10. Sitting in a cafe and watching the world go by.
11. Taking as long as I want to eat a meal.  Lingering over coffee and enjoying conversation and good company.
12. Never being in a hurry to get some place else
13. My friends, Lorna and Jonathan, Elis, Emilio, Jerry, Adi, Stravros, Yani and his brother, Claudio, Argellys (sp?), Lucas - my boys who always had a hug and a kiss for 'mamma.

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Thirteen Things about Francesca's Summer...

1. After I wrote the last entry in my blog, my daughter and I returned to Kos
2. We have been out of the country for around 8 weeks in total.
3. We finally came home yesterday morning.
4. This has been the best summer of my life. We had so much fun and made so many friends that for awhile most of my blog entries will be chronicaling our adventures.
5. I have a sun tan! A really good one, the first ever, lol!
6. I have lost weight, at least one dress size.
7. It is a long time since I felt as happy or as healthy as I have done over these weeks.
8. My daughter fell in love. No need for television, I had my very own soap opera to follow!
9. After all those weeks in the sun, England feels very, very cold.
10. We have been invited to a wedding in Holland.
11. We met people from Greece, Albania, England, Ireland, Holland, Finland, Sweden, Italy, Germany and Israel.
12. I now know how to drink a shot properly!
13. I swam in the sea for the first time in my life.

...and an extra one....I can't wait to go back to Kos next summer.

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Thirteen Things about Francesca's Holiday

1. My youngest daughter and I will be flying out to Kos later today.

2. This will be my first proper holiday for a couple of years.

3. My ex husband is paying for both of us!  My last post explains why. (Thank you, G ~smile~)

4.The decision was made and the holiday booked late Friday afternoon.

5. Kos is a Greek Island close to Turkey.

6. This will be my first visit to this particular island.

7. I'm so nervous that I can't eat anything.

8. I have packed a sketch book, pencils, water colours, charcoal,

9. and probably far too much 'stuff'!

10. The holiday company says that my walking stick will probably be confiscated during the flight as it is potentially a 'weapon'!!

11. M wants to sunbathe and go clubbing, I want to sketch and explore, this should prove to be an interesting two weeks, lol!

12. Did I mention how nervous I am? Correction, I want to go back to bed and hide, but I know I will be ok once we are there.

13. I shall miss blogging and reading my favourites.  I shall miss TT and my other children. I shall miss my cats...

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I have read so many blog entries about moving house, recently, that I thought I would share Thirteen Things about the House of My Dreams...

1. My house is close to the sea. Within easy walking distance, so that I can walk along the shore any time I want to. I can watch the sun rise or the sun set, play footsie with the tide, build sand castles or just sit with my eyes closed, taking in the salty air, and day dream.
2. The dining room has patio doors that flood the room with light.  All I have to do is push the table out of the way and I have my favourite place. My studio.
3. The patio doors lead out onto a small courtyard. White walls softened by climbing plants give me my privacy and are high enough to keep the cats in.
4. There is a small, round, heavy table and a chair where I can eat my breakfast.
5. Flowers tumble from pots and baskets drenching the air with perfume in the summer and providing evergreen symbols of life in the winter.
6. I can hear the sounds of flowing water.
7. The lounge is compact, but large enough for everyone when all the children are here.
8. There is a large, squishy armchair that the cats and I can curl up in to watch television or listen to music.
9. The house has room for enough bookcases to take all my books.
10. My bedroom is not overlooked, so I can leave the curtains open during the summer and allow the sun to wake me up.
11. I can't afford to run a car, so there must be shops close by.
12. All the rooms have large windows and wide sills so that the cats can sunbathe and watch the world go by.
13. Somewhere there is a window seat, stacked with cushions.  The perfect place to read or sketch or just to think.

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Thirteen Things good childhood memories...

1. The ground sloped down to the shops and the council had installed a metal handrail to help those who might need it.  As a child, I spent many happy hours hanging upside down from that rail.  I remember the smell of tarmac, softened by summer sun.  The holes made by high heels and chewing gum, hardened, down trodden until it had become part of the ground. A discoloured patch like some ancient creature captured in  black amber.
2. My grandmothers garden, although not huge, had secret places for a little girl to hide.  Beneath the overgrown rasberry canes, right at the bottom. A place Nan would never come to close to because of the wasps attracted by over-ripe fruit. The hum of insects and the heavy summer scents trapped within the cool shadows of my own private world.
3. The lawn, surrounded on three sides by tall shrubs that would catch on the hem of my skirt as I flew through the air on my swing. The way, if I went too high, the pegs holding the swing down would loosen and each upward movement be accompanied by an exciting 'bump'.
4. Margaret, the rag doll that David won for me at the fair. Flowered fabric, squared off limbs, a triangular head. A rubber face with features drawn on, a body filled with some straw like substance. She was supposed to be a birthday joke.  A disappointment that would make the expensive doll he had saved so hard to buy me all the more appreciated. A beautiful toy that would rarely be taken out of its box, so entranced was I by Margaret.
5. Sleepy little girl curled up against Davids shoulder in the back of the car. The soft drone of my grandparents conversation a comforting lullabye. The way my stomach flipped over at the sight of the night time city lights. I was home.
6. The way excitement would build as I sat quietly playing on Sunday afternoons, waiting for my Grandfather to say the magic words "I think it must be chocolate time."
7. Exploring with my friend, armed with nothing more than a bottle of water and a paper bag filled with a mixture of sugar and coco powder.
8. A white dress, dusted with tiny pink roses, that rustled like paper at each step.
9. My grandmothers black, fur hat. Not real fur, but still soft and sensuous. Often she would forget to remove it and sit, sipping hot tea, in her armchair. The incongruity of hat and apron worn at the same time.
10. The solid, warm strength of Grandads arms as I sat on his knee, proud and happy to be allowed to stay while he listened to his records.  His flashing, smile, easy laughter and the smell of 'Old Spice' aftershave, soap and cigarettes.
11. The rush of emotion after almost unbearable tension when the front door opened and the long awaited visit from my parents, brother and sister had finally come.
12. Playing with my brother. The sense of solidarity, of existing within a private world that no adult could enter or harm.
13. Penny sweets, Tizer, running out into the street at the sound of the Rag and Bone man's cry so I could see his horse. Tracing the pattern on a carpet with my finger, entranced by its complexity, the sheer wonderfullness of a balloon, the fascination of the colours and their names in my paint box....
    
    
    
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1. Tracie
2. Fatedhearts
3. Kailani
4. Wenchy
5. WendyWings
6. Kristarella
7. Friday's Child
8. Mandy
9. Scouser
10. Elle
11. Lisa
12. Lady Jane

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Thirteen Things about my first ever exhibition - The last few weeks have been very busy, working on my final project and then getting the work up and ready for the end of year exhibition.  Despite being taken into hospital during the final week, I did it! Not only that I missed getting a distinction for the project by 1 mark. 1. 'Body Apart' i - beads and paint on canvas. My chosen title for this project was 'Metamophosis' 2. 'Body Apart' ii - based on a x-ray showing lung cancer. Beads and paint. 3. 'Body Apart' iii - based on drawings of both healthy and cancer cells. Beads and paint. 4. Drawing i  The following tryptich is concerned with mark making or drawing. I like the idea of a drawing that can be felt with your fingers. 5. Drawing ii 6. Drawing iii 7. 'Drink Me' My favourite piece from the project. Beads and acrylic inks on water colour paper. The beads looked so much like tablets I got to thinking about how we use medication, etc to contain ourselves. Perhaps to hide what we think of as unacceptable about ourselves. Yet no matter how we try, the 'inside' leaks out. 8. 'Internet' I learned to bead through the internet.  The on-line beading community is amazingly friendly and supportive. I would not be doing what I am if it had not been for them.  The internet fascinates me. The way networks of information and friendships spread and grow. Using a netting stitch (probably the oldest method of beading) to talk about this seemed appropriate. 9. 'Over My Shoulder' This and the following piece are about the tradition of beading that stretches at least as far back as ancient Egypt.  I am very aware of all those who have gone before me, using such similar methods and materials. 10. 'Reflections' 11. 'Scarlet Nails' ii - I keep coming back to this piece of writing as a starting point for further work.  In this version, nail varnish is used to obliterate some of the words, leaving something that has a similar meaning to the original but more open ended. I am extremely interested in combining words and visual art. 12. 'Scarlet Nails' ii - This is a dreadful photograph! But the best I could come up with after several tries.  The piece is actually contained within a deep wooden box reminiscent of something that might be kept in a museum. 13. 'Visual Diary'  - Interested in process and in the act of recording, I added to this spiral each day during the project.  It eventually reached approx. 33 and 1/2 feet in length.  I intend to keep adding to it, at least through the next year of my degree. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!) Nat Christina David Vicki Tricia Mandy Cat EmilyRoseJewel Lady Jane

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Thirteen Things I have been thinking about this week...

1.     Sunday was the third anniversary of my mothers death from lung cancer.  I feel guilty because I do not miss her the way I should do. I lived with my Grandmother permanently from the age of 10 so I learn ed at a very early age to live without mum around.  I'm not very good at missing people. I cut off instead.  I think this is probably a survival strategy learn ed when I was young.

2.     Friday will be my youngest daughter's 16th birthday. 

3.     It seems like only yesterday...

4.     ...and now she is a young woman.

5.     M. lives with her father although I see her most days.

6.     This evening we went to pizza hut for an early celebration. Daughter #2 has better ways to spend the actual day than with her mum, dad and siblings, lol!

7.     We all went except Daughter#1. S and M are not speaking which is sad.  I sympathise with the reasons, but I hope they sort it out soon.

8.     I wish I could explain to my children how precious siblings are.  I lived only intermittently with mine and the hole in my heart still aches.

9.     My youngest sister and I both lived with my Grandmother from when she was three until just before her 5th birthday. I was twelve when she left.

10.    My other sister, also younger than me, was adopted by my maternal aunt and uncle when she was three years old. We have had little contact.  Which,  although I am as much to blame as her, makes me sad.

11.    My brother is two years younger than me. We are close although we see each other rarely and  only lived together for short times.  Not at all after I was ten. Its strange that no matter how long it is since we last spoke or saw each other, we take up as though there had never been a break.

12.    My children parallel my family in terms of birth order and gaps between.

13.    There are no photographs of me and my siblings all together when we were children.  Which is why during the 'Childhood' project at until  I made one up...

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1.Gabrielle                    5.Mandy                         9.Susan          13.Nat

2.Laci                           6.Leanne                        10.Debi           14.Elle

3.Mar                            7.Undercover Angel         11.Julie

4.Lifecruiser                   8.Carmen                       12.K T Cat

      

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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Thirteen Things about my first Thursday Thirteen 1.  This is the very first Thursday Thirteen that I have taken part in. 2.   I have a brain like swiss cheese - full of holes - its taken me two weeks to figure out how to set this up! 3.   My introduction to Thursday Thirteen was through Elle on Domesticated Blogging . 4.   Its been awhile since I blogged regularly, it feels like I am having to learn the technical stuff all over again. 5.   This is a great way to avoid writing essays... 6.   Completing my course project... 7.   Doing paperwork... 8.   Starting housework. 9.   I'm already beginning to think about what I might list next Thursday. 10. I've been up and about for five hours and the only thing I have done so far is explore Thursday Thirteen lists! 11. I was so busy reading that I forgot to leave any comments. 12. Which means I can fill another couple of hours doing some more exploring. 13. I just realised it was Friday today, not Thursday! Told you my brain was like swiss cheese! Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!) Elle          Leanne          Jane                 Ames        Ardice Karin        Paul             Lifecruiser         Moogie

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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