Eternal Refuge

.... that's the way of welcoming a new month ... other than that, it's a case of saying "White rabbits" 3 times ... but as a BtVS fan I really woulldn't want to upset Anya by speaking of those animals!

I had a good weekend in the end. 

I worked Satuday until 2.30pm and was late leaving as the lady who was leaving was having a little bit of a "do", so I kept there, celebrating with her, but answering the questions from the public.  So nice to be abale to help her to enjoy her farewell.  There are some people that it's nice to be able to help, aren't there?

My Sunday was nice and lazy ... our Church service was lovely, then I did quite a bit of reading, before Tim & Claire's to water their garden tubs.

Now I have another few days off, so I really want to get some cleaning finished that I started ages ago.

Depending on the weather I also want to try and get some of the graves checked that I am am tasked to keep an eye on.  What with weather, and the hand injury, this year has been a no-go so far.   But as it looks like we are going to get colder weather I may be able to get some checked this week.  Let's see.

But let's try and catch up here first ..





29. Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell was published today (1936). Have you ever read it, or did you watch the movie instead?
I first read the book about 5 years before I saw the film. The first 2 times I saw the film was at the cinema, and like many epic films that really makes it so much more amazing than on your own TV

30. International Asteroid Day - meteor is what happens when a small piece of an asteroid or comet (called a meteoroid) burns up upon entering Earth's atmosphere. Have you ever seen a meteor shower?
I saw one amazing one about 25 years ago. A group of us stood on a beach, near a village, so there was little light pollution, which made it all that more beautiful

July:
1. Halfway through the year, how have you done with your New Year resolutions?
I don't do New Year ones ... so at least I haven't failed!!!




Right, am going to try and catch up with you all x

One of our visits was one not scheduled ... and we went there for 2 reasons.  The first was that many of the group were Scottish, so we were taken to Black Watch Corner -


As I got off the coach our guide called me aside, to show me the view across the main road .... Glencourse Woods.  I had already been taken there on a previous visit, but this time it was across the road from where I was ... However, for me, it was in memory of my Grandfather.  On the 10th August 1917 during the third battle of Ypres (The Battle of Passchendaele), this is where he was stationed. The lowere photo was taken in 2018 when the tour went along the other road, than the one we were on this time.




From there we went to The Berks Cemetery & Extension -





CWGC re-etching the stones



A German Jew ... sadly if he had survivied he would have faced the Nazi regime.

Lieutenant R Pouton-Palmer, an English Rugby Captain ... and relative of the "Hunter & Palmer" biscuit company.


As we were driving along we saw some of the German bunkers



Another place we were shown was this re-built farmhouse, which (in the cellar) there are still the remains of the original cartoons of Old Bill, by Bruce Bairnsfather



Our next stop was at Messines and our first stop was the museum.

Old Bill

Photos of the town at the end of the war

Copy of painting of St Nicholas' Church - Dec 1914, by Adolf Hitler

The rebuilt Messines Church - where Hitler had been a patient in the crypt when injured in 1914

... and a toilet for the men near the entrance


And, our final stop of the day was Ypres, or Wipers as Granddad would have called it. The city was totally destroyed during the war, but rebuilt to look as it did pre WWI. As I said, Claire's great-grandfather's name is on the Menin Gate ... but as you can see it is being renovated.



















Since 1928, the "Last Post" has been sounded every evening at 8 p.m. by buglers of the local Last Post Association at the war memorial at Ypres in Belgium known as the Menin Gate, commemorating the British Empire dead at the Battle of Ypres during the First World War. The only exception to this was during the four years of the German occupation of Ypres from 20 May 1940 to 6 September 1944, when the ceremony moved to Brookwood Military Cemetery in England. On the evening that Polish forces liberated Ypres, the ceremony was resumed at the Menin Gate, in spite of the heavy fighting still going on in other parts of the town. These buglers or trumpeters, sometimes seen in fire brigade uniform, are members of the fire brigade representing the Last Post Association, who organizes the events. The Last Post Association uses both silver B♭ bugles and E♭ cavalry trumpets, with either British Army tradition being respected during services at the gate.

Our first stop on Wednesday morning was a visit to Tyne Cot Cemetery - the largest CWCG cemetery on The Ypres Salient. There are almost 12,000 graves of which over 8,000 are un-named. There are a total of 35,000 names on the memorial walls of those buried with no known grave.

The first time I went to this cemetery I was with Mum, Dad , Nick & Tim; and have been back again on a previous tour ... and however many times I visit, it is a very special time.






One of the German bunkers





















This is a special site for those from New Zealand ... and there memorial logo is special.


From there we went to The Brooding Soldier ... a memorial of the Canadians who were killed by gas attacks

This morning was busy, bus, busy.

yesterday when I was going out to work I glanced at the hedge in my front garden and it had literally died, in sections, overnight.  Wow - maybe it has been a problem for a few days, but certainly I hadn't spotted it.  So I have removed the dead bits, and lets see if the whole section has gone, or whether getting rid of the dead stuff will let the rest survive.  If I lose the lot I shall end up waiting till next year to decide what to do there.  Two reason - one of which is it's fairly late in the season, and also that if there is a "bug" then leaving the ground fallow will be the best thing for it.

Once I had done that I headed to where Crediton (about 9 miles away) as I am tasked to clean the CWCG there.  I had been a couple of weeks ago but still had 2 in the Churchyard to do, and then to find the cemetery and the 3 there.  None of them were traditional gravestones so didn't need the cleaning, but all needed basic gardenimg ... and 2 of them needed a lot of gardening (one was full of brambles).  So a couple of hours of works was involved with the 5 graves.

Then back via the grocery shop, and a lunch.

This afternoon I have registered all the graves on the web-sites that I needed to and now doing this before seeing what you have all been up to!

Tomorrow I am working in the morning, and then meeting up with Claire in the afternoon.  The trouble is that is going to be hard work ... we are meeting for cocktails ... so I will have to decide what one(s) to buy!!!!  Then in the evening we are meeting Tim for an evenig meal.  (And as I am working all day on Friday -)




16 – Elvis Week: Are you, or were you, an Elvis Presley fan?
Oh yes - love his music. In fact I had an Elvis CD on while I was cutting down my hedge this morning

17 – Thrift Shop Day: Do you regularly, or even occasionally, shop at thrift shops? Do you donate to them? What was one of your best or favourite thrift shop finds?
I do donate to Charity shops ... and buy from them (a great place to pick up a jigsaw puzzle)

18 – Serendipity Day: Serendipity is an unplanned fortunate discovery. Have you ever experienced a particularly serendipitous moment?
I can't think off hand of a major event ... but there always seems to be little and surprising, happy things happening.




So will see you Saturday x

... As I have had a long week at work, which was good for the bank balance ... and a similar week ahead, housework, shopping, washing, etc has been deferred ... so I need to get on today and get a few tasks done.

I am also hoping to get some of the local Commonwealth War Graves cleaned, as well. I didn't get round to giving them their Autumn clean, so need to catch up. If I can at least get 3 or 4 done, at least I will know that I have made a start.

I had hoped to get photos done, as I said, but my computer was being annoying ... so hopefully will get one set up today, and some more next week. At this rate it will be next year before I get to share my Sicily trip with you all.

Hope you are having a good weekend ... shopping, and grave cleaning, ar calling ... but until then ....



3 – World Bicycle Day: Do you regularly ride a bike? If yes, is it mostly for fun, or do is it your main mode of tranportation? Does your town/city have good bike infrasctructure, e.g. dedicated, safe bike paths, etc.?
I have never really liked cycling, even though mum thought I was mad. But having been all but run over, in an accident, it is certainly something I won't be doing (by choice) again

4 – Cheese Day: There are people who do not like cheese or cannot eat it for health reasons, while other people think it is one of the best foods, or ingredients for food recipes that was ever invented! Which category best describes you?
Some cheeses really clash with my partial dairy allergy ... but I do like Cheddar Cheese, preferably fairly strong.



Right, catch up with you later x

One of the towns we visited was Neuve Chapelle and oone of the things we saw there was the Neuve-Chapelle Indian Memorial ... containing names of Indian troops with no known graves, as well as POW's from both wars who had died and been cremated ...














Locally we also saw this ....

It had been a crucifix outside the Church. And, no, it doesn't have one large branch, that's an unexploded German Bomb (although now made safe!!)


We also stopped to see the Portugese memorial -







As well as the main Portugese Cemetery -














There was a Chapel on the opposite side of the road

It was certainly a week of no-shows ... 2 clinics, and both were missing people.  Yesterday we had 2, although as somehow the clinic had a double booked slot we were glad one of those was missing.  The theory is with the new computer system that was implimented just before Covid that this should never happen ... well, put it this way it's not the first time we have had 2 people booked into the same time slot (and I don't suppose it will be the last)

Yesterday after work I walked up to the local Church because after much cancelleling,/.bad weather etc I met up with another volunteer with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission - so good to meet up with him and to decide what work will be needed there.

Then in the evening I watched the iPlayer to look at the Thanksgiving service for Prince Philip.  I am so glad that The Queen was able to get there ... as well as Prince Philip's family from Europe, all his immediate family (except Prince Harry), and the 51 visiting Royalty (although sadly the King of Norway had Covid, so had to pull out).

Now I have just got back from a lovely walk ... my friend Ceri pickd me up and we went to Exmouth, met Ana and had a walk ... and then we had sausage & chips ... and now back home.  What a great time ... and here are some photos ...
























Chips


Now, I want to make some icons ... but before that -


29. If you found out a close friend or relative was doing something illegal, what, if anything, would you do about it?
I would hope that I would speak to them ... but it's never happened to me, and you never know how you would truly react

30. If you had to choose one, would you consider yourself a big-picture person or a detail-oriented person?
Big picture


Right, that's me up to date again ... will catch up with you later x

Challenge #8

In your own space, celebrate a personal win from the past year: it can be a list of fanworks you're especially proud of, a gift of your time to the community, a quality or skill you cultivated in yourself, something you generally feel went well. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.


As I have commented over the last few snowflakes, I enjoy making icons, so thought I would share a few icons I made last year ....










They are all available over at d4s_icons at LiveJournal .... I also made a few banners .... here is 1 ...






On a non-fandom basis I am really pleased that I got training so that I can volunteer with The Commonwealth War Graves Commission.  It is a charity that I have always been interested in, so am really pleased that I was able to help clean and monitor war graves both in Exeter and near where Jiffy is resting

Yes, a year ago my little man "crossed Rainbow Bridge".  In some ways it feels as if it was only a few days ago that I was talking to him face to face ... but today I drove down to visit his grave.  I cleaned it and left a rose bud from Mum's rose bush.  So there is not much else to do, but I could not have missed the trip for anything.







While I was there, I also went to Churchstow Church to clean the war grave that was there, as part of my CWGC voluntary work.  So it was nice to see a bit more of the village where Jiffy is resting.






The grave I had to check on -


Yesterday I had a phone appointment with my Chronic Fatigue specialist.  She was pleased to hear that since our last conversation I had managed to stop the complete "crash" that I used to get a couple of times a week.  She has given me more advice, and some homework to do, and booked another appointment.

After that I walked into the city.  I had bought a pair of shoes (on eBay), and I needed the heals worked on.  Since I had my bike accident back in 1982 I have damage to my pelvis, and wear a heal lift on my left heal ... so it is frustrating that I buy new shoes, and then have to take them straight to a cobbler for some work!  While it was being done I walked around the museum.  I had a couple of photos that I had to take to complete the final prompts over at photo_scavenger ... but there are a few more photos to share with you all, as well.

It is certainly a very eclectic mix ... and sometimes in the same space!






Exeter seal - 1170



Silver Chocolate pot from 1707
I don't know about you, but my hot chocolate comes in a pre-mixed tub, & I just add water!  As I add it in the mug, I don't need the posh jug, but ... it might be worth it!

Redware pottery 4700 years ago
It is amazing that all those years ago, a normal jug could be decorated in such a delicate way, and that they had kept them all in one piece.


And so we are on Saturday afternoon ... so I will close this with tomorrow's (and yesterday, as I missed it) question, before signing off.


22. Have you ever eaten snow?
I have never really been in a place where we have had a lot of snow

23. Curtains or blinds?
Neither, really (well I do have curtains in my lounge)

24. Have you ever adopted a stray (cat or dog)?
No - but if I found one, I would


And, of course as I sign off I do so with an apology for still not catching up with answering your comments, they do mean a lot, honest

Enjoy your weekend - see you Monday x

Actually what with work in the morning (and despite the leg being strapped, it was sore), after lunch I then went to the cememtery where Mum & Dad are resting.  No, not  to see them but to go on a guided walk with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.  I will admit that much I heard I already knew, but was amazed to find that Bram Stoker's brother George is one of the casualties from WWI buried in the cemetery.  He was a doctor, who had also served in the Zulu and Boer wars ... sadly he then caught flu, having served in the trenches ... so that was sadly how he ended up passing away.

The rest of the tour gave odd comments about some who had served and died during the 2 World Wars.  I was also able to meet one of the men who is going to be doing my training for the grave cleaning volunteering that I am going to do.  So it was good to meet him, as well as confirm the training date for a few weeks time. 

But with everything it was much later by the time I got back here.

Now I have done another morning at work, and had the odd thing of one patient being booked in by another receptionist and sent to sit at the wrong end of the hospital.  Obviously that receptionist was having a total brain-storm ... but luckily our receptionist was able to ring him and get him to where he should be.  She also contacted the other person ... but didn't hear back as to why or how that happened.  Oh well, it keeps me on my toes!!

Well i must sort out some more photos for you, but, as ever -



15. Do you think doctors should be able to prescribe vitamins?
My doctor, many years ago, prescribed vitamin B tablets and for many years Mum was prescribed vitamin D ... so can't see the point of this question!

16. If you have a significant other, how long have you been together?
N/A