Weston carnival - PHOTO HEAVY

I did not think that this year's Carnival was as good as previous ones, maybe the novelty is wearing off!!

The coach journey down was 'interesting' and the weather was horrendous but ......... that doesn't stop the enjoyment of meeting up with family and sharing a meal.

There was a l  o  n  g  pause at one point so we all parted early - N had earache, M&A were cold and wet and all the others had moved onto the pub.  We wandered back to the coach which was parked along the sea front .......... pouring with rain, eating chips and laughing and dancing with the music!!!!  only us!!!

We found the coach and climbed aboard only for PJ to go back outside to take some more photos, in the rain, in the middle of the road .......... really trying to get in some practice with his camera!!!!

Nuff said - here's the photos -

Just getting dark when we arrived and lights were
appearing

So here in the distance are the floats.........

All parts are twisting and rolling, in between are the dancers, with VERY LOUD MUSIC.

Until the floats come up real close you can't see what is actually happening on it. 


 This one is a 'tableau' and all the people stand still .......... perfectly still ............ for the whole journey.

And along comes another one!!
Pantomime tableau............ 

There are children & adults, all dressed up and marching along.  

The lad following behind was dressed as a Gondolier on his gondola and towed another boat behind 

LAS VEGAS!!!

Don't we always have this town represented!
Noise, music, lights and girls dancing with all the feathers!!!

Oh! Yes!

Candles dancing to the music - look closer - GIRLS??!!

This tableau was an underwater scene and was my favourite, there was a guy hanging from the very front of the whole caboodle, how he managed that for what can take two hours ...........

More dancing and shouting and men & women dressed up.







Just a little close up of some of the floats contestants.....

This guy celebrated the year - couldn't have a carnival without a nod to the Jubilee!!!!

I don't know if you can see this but even the Police Horses has lights on!!!

More to follow when I have PJ camera card - he has the photos of my absolute favourite tableau.

Moving this Blog .......

.... as part of my 2018 tidy up I am moving this Blog over to one of my other Blogs - Artistic Thoughts and Colours - where I will be popping in much more often to Blog up my Art works, cards, travels etc.  It will be much easier for me to maintain one Blog (which I hope will interest everyone) than to try and keep up with THREE Blogs and lose my momentum.

I am now over there permanently.

Hello at Christmas

Happy Christmas to you all.

May God bless you with peace and joy at this wonderful time of the year.

Sunday in England

During the night, very softly, a white blanket covered our area and by the time we were up and about, there was transport chaos in the land!

Some folks love it, in my younger days the children and I were out at first light, using socks folded as mittens on our hands and having the most fun....

...... now it is beautiful to look at from behind the windows.


After breakfast we decided that today would be a good day to try out the Slow Cooker, swapped for a Toasted Sandwich Maker with our DDN.
The meat and vegetables were layered up and the heat switched on.

The snow was still snowing, folks were out shovelling and taking photos .... me?  


I'm in the craft room making a few more Christmas cards, setting my own challenge.  A few sheets of card and some peel offs ......

Quite pleased with the results.

It's almost dark now and still snowing, PJ's sister (who lives near London) rang to see if we were OK  - she has only rain ..... so far ....

Along the road out front

Had to include these trees out the back!

We are the 'lucky ones', I think we are about 8inches deep now but my pantry is full of tinned goods and so long as the power stays on we will be fine.   

The new back door to my kitchen may not be fitted this week though!!

Testing for a Christmas Meal

Our Craft Group plans to have its Christmas Lunch at an Italian Restaurant so I persuaded PJ to try out the restaurant and see what the food was like.
I booked the table and when we arrived we were the first customers of the evening, but were shown to a table laid for two.
We ordered our drinks and then made a selection from the Menu, starters of Ananas con Pesce and Prosciutto E Melone.  
The Pineapple was served inside a fresh pineapple with a beautiful Rose Marie sauce over Prawns - delish!

The Parma Ham was a large slice and laid over slices of Melon, with Strawberries as decoration.

Our Main Courses were of a goodly size, Risotto Con Pollo E Vegetali - chunks of chicken, vegetables in a Tomato and Wine Sauce and Pizza Funghi E Tonno - lots of vegetables and Tuna.

We didn't have room for a dessert so just finished with a latte.

The restaurant itself was set out the same as all Italian Restaurants in Italy, beautiful linen tablecloths and serviettes, tiled floors, the only difference being Andrea Bocelli playing in the background!!! 
It's usually Zucchero!
On our trip to Vegas, back in the day, the fountains at the Balagio Hotel opposite were 'dancing' to Andrea singing Con Te Partiro ......... soppy but so lovely to hear it being played in this restaurant ....... on this night.

Wonderful evening, wonderful food, going back again - definitely!

Afternoon Cream Tea

This was a special treat, much later than expected due to commitments, but Sunday was the day!!!
DD1 and I drove out into the Shropshire countryside, traffic on the motorway slowed us down for a short while but then, we were off, and into the country lanes and sunshine ......

We arrived at Norbury Wharf in the sunshine although the sky was leaden.  As we crossed the bridge from the pub carpark to the Junction, the views were really promising and we began to get quite excited.  
The junction itself is really pretty and there are boats moored up along wither side of the canal.
We collected our tickets, had a cup of coffee in the cafe cum shop and moved down to the quayside.  
Our narrowboat soon appeared from under the bridge, turned itself round and then replenished with the the teas.  

We watched in amazement as a handful of ducks scurried out of the way of the turning boat ..... the ducks won!!!

Inside the boat we sat in a 'twosome' and were served with our cream teas. 
Something I don't drink is tea but it was not a problem to swap for a cup of coffee. 
Our cream tea was delicious, just what I was looking forward for.


We nattered and looked at the view, watching the changing colours of the bushes and then .....

as the boat turned round for the return journey .... 

we noticed that the bank on this side was more natural, had ancient jetties, and the occasional concrete block - which to us indicated that once this bank had been lined the same as the other side.


We slowly motored back to the Junction and, dashing through the pouring rain (!), went into the shop for a good browse of the wonderful selection of souvenirs.   I was treated to new teatowels (very reasonably priced!!) and a few toys were bought for Little Soldier ..... and a few Christmas presents fell into the basket!!!

The rain had stopped by the time we went back to the car so we had a very pleasant journey home.

Remember the guttering?

Well, we are still flooding, still putting out saucepans to catch the drips and still unable to use our lounge.  We are still complaining to Adams Askey and still being ignored!!!
For your delectation .....

The view from the left window

The view from the right window.  Rain pouring over the guttering and onto our roof!

Perhaps one day.......

Badar's Wedding

We shared our car with the neighbours, we couldn't get the car seat out so they had close fellowship in the back!
It was a dark and dismal evening but we found the hall, situated over on the north side of town - not somewhere most of us had been.
Once inside it was beautiful, like stepping into another world.


The entrance hall was decorated with a table of tropical fruits - ideas here for future parties?
Inside it was all satin drapes, fairy lights, silver and brightness.
The place was huge, we reckoned it seated about 800 and each table seated twelve, beautifully laid out.  Magnificent chandeliers hing from the ceiling, large table centre pieces filled with white roses and fairy lights.......magical.
We entered the hall between two large brightly lit pillars and walked along a red carpeted walkway.  We were the first to arrive so had lots of chance to view the fashions, meet some of the folks and invite other neighbours to sit at 'our' table.

Badar and Farzana made a grand entrance along the carpet and down to the front of the hall onto the stage to sit on a silver sofa.  The majority of the men were in western dress but all of the women were in costume - such gorgeous materials, some have to be seen to be believed.


Farzana looked petrified but Badar, as always, takes it all in his stride.  He has always been so laid back, just like his father!  I couldn't get a good photo of the bride's dress, it was like shades of cream and palest green, with a embroidered veil.

As soon as they were seated the food was served, so many platters, so we had a little of each and then helped ourselves to seconds of that which we liked.  The food was delicious and I found out later all cooked by Mrs Khan and friends!!

with Naan, Green Salad, Dahl, and other side dishes.

Enough food to feed an army and all of it wonderful.




This is carrot 'cake' with creamed rice.  It's absolutely delicious!


We all had a cup of Pink Tea and toasted the Happy Couple.  We found our hosts and thanked them for inviting us and giving us such wonderful food.

The next day there was a knock at the front door and the young lady standing there presented us with a large platter of various meats and a large bag of rice!!! We feasted all over again......
I made a Thank You card for when I returned the plate and was treated to a look at Hira's Wedding photos (daughter), she has been married three years now and has a son.   
I have been promised a cd of the wedding photos so that I can up date this Blog.......