I got the sun in the morning and the moon at night...

It's been a funny few days.  A very "full of life" few days, in what is, I believe, the true meaning of the phrase.

The sun shone on Saturday, so we decided to postpone a planned trip to London, and enjoy time at home - particularly since the builders (who've worked every Saturday since they started in October...bless them...!), weren't here either and it was blissfully quiet.

I pottered around in the garden, put up some shelves and pictures in my shed, and examined all my plants for signs of life.  I love it when they start to bud, just to let me know they are still there and survived the winter!  In the midst of all this burgeoning, beautiful, new life came news of a friend who had finally lost the fight for hers - so sad, so young.  And then, on Monday, I met up with another friend who had recently lost an elderly aunt whom she desperately loved, who, although still grieving herself, is having to sort out all sorts of family stuff and support everyone else.  In the midst of all that, she found time to sort out a few bits and pieces for me from her aunt's house that she knew I would love.

And isn't that life in a nutshell?  New growth, love, friendship, giving, death...

It seems like Spring may have finally sprung - as I type this (sitting up in bed on my gorgeous, spanking new laptop!), I can hear the birds singing outside - lovely, lovely, lovely!!

Debbie x

Photo courtesy of my in-house photographer...

When in Rome....

D hit the big 5-0 on Thursday, so I flew him off to Rome for a few days as a surprise.  As ever, my timing was impeccable - Rome + Easter + new Pope =  hundreds of thousands of people, all eager to see the new Papa Francesca.   If they couldn't see him then they wanted to see just about anything that might be connected to him, the Vatican City or Rome - the queues for every attraction stretched for what seemed like miles.

Now I am not good in crowds - being unable to move forward or backwards and not being able to see an exit causes me to panic.  The Sistine Chapel was stunningly beautiful, but absolutely jam packed with people, and seen at great speed since the security men waved everyone through, shouting alternately "Avanti" (which I took to mean "hurry along"), and "Ssssshhhh" (which didn't need translating).  And in the Sistine Chapel, I panicked.  Had to get out.  And fast...  We crawled under a rope to escape the crowd we were being carried along by and were halted by two more security guards who told us to get back in line.  D took umbrage... a slight altercation ensued... they asked D if he had rules in his country... he replied yes, but not stupid ones...   He mentioned that all they needed were HiViz jackets and their lives would be complete... they didn't understand...  All a tad embarrassing, and watched by hundreds of tourists who were happy to stay in line...

We did manage to have a proper look inside the Pantheon having stumbled upon it quite literally on our first evening while looking for somewhere to eat (food always being uppermost on both our minds).  That too was gorgeous and incredibly well preserved - a bit like you,  I said to D...

Debbie x

Now where did those 5 months go...?

I last posted on my blog 5 months ago - just three days before the building work started on our annexe... the building work that was due to be completed in 10 weeks, just in time for Christmas... the building work that still isn't finished...

I have to say though, despite the incredibly slow pace, the builders are doing a superb job.  A beautiful butterfly of an office, guest room and bathroom is emerging from the grubby, dirty little chrysalis of an over-garage-annexe that was there when we bought our house a year ago.  I am quite sure that once Phase III (the main house - this bit is Phase II) is completed, and the dust has had time to settle (and everything has at last been taken out of storage, and unpacked, and I've had the opportunity to buy gorgeous new sofas and rugs and other nice things), then the trials, tribulations and difficulties of camping out in our own home will all be forgotten.  If the work carried out so far is anything to go by, we are very lucky in having stumbled across fab builders who genuinely care about their work and actually want to give us a perfect job (always at a price of course, but so be it!).

And in other news... is there any other news?  I have been, it would seem consumed by the building work going on!  However, the office mentioned above is to be MY office and I am so excited - my own personal space to furnish/decorate/have my stuff in!  I am so full of plans for it, how I am going to use it, where I am going to sit to read my mags, how tidy it is going to be kept - but also full of plans for my NEW BUSINESS.

D keeps telling me that I should be producing a business plan for this.   I do have lots and lots of plans, though none of them apparently a business plan - this seems to involve sitting down and writing all sorts of lists, and then conjuring up figures involving profits and other such things out of thin air.  This is not one of my key skills.   I keep telling myself (and him) that once I have the new office (and my new desk (actually old kitchen table) and super duper new whizzy round chair) that I will write said plan, but in the meantime am having such fun plotting (in my head, nothing in writing) the interesting stuff...

Debbie x

I am girding my loins.....

I haven't yet promoted or published the fact (on my Facebook page or to friends) that I am writing this blog - mainly because I'm not sure I have the courage to share what I write...yet.

Is it rubbish, is what I write drivel, is my phrasing/spelling/grammar atrocious?  So, have been sitting writing quietly in a corner, to myself - or so I thought.  I spent a few minutes this morning exploring the world of Blogger, to try to find out how various things are done and came across a statistic that has made me quake - there have been 85 viewings of my last post....   Ooooh, panic is setting in!

That (potentially) means that 82 others (not including husband, daughter and son - loyal followers) are out there reading my musings.  I sincerely hope it's not too boring for you all!

We are spending the weekend getting ready for the builders, who are starting work next week on a huge renovation project - the first stage will take about three months, then we will move across into that bit and the second stage will commence - so, all in all, we will have builders around until sometime around July next year, assuming all goes to schedule....  

It'll be lovely when it's done....

Debbie x

The times they are a'changin.....

I was chatting to a friend today, and she started to talk about her younger son, and his education.  A friend of hers, who has a child in the same class at school, joined in and made a statement which, though I know is probably true, has really made me think.

They were talking about reading, and writing, and the friend of a friend said "I'm not too worried about her handwriting, because by the time she grows up, they won't BE writing..." - and of course, she could be right.  I came home, still pondering this comment, and purely by chance read an article in Elle Decoration which said that a recent survey found that the people questioned had not actually written (by hand) anything for an average of 41 days. Incredible isn't it?  But the way things are going I suppose.

I would usually have said "It's sad", but given the recent events in Wales, can't - the disappearance of that sweet little girl is truly truly sad.  My heart goes out to her family.  Rest in peace little April.

Debbie x

A thinking and doing kind of day.....

Today I have decided to crack on and start to get things sorted...there is a heck of a lot to sort, in all areas of my life.  I am starting with the practical, then plan to move on to the harder stuff...

I came across this on Facebook this morning, which seemed timely...

So far, in between cups of tea, answering the door, the phone, eating HobNobs and chatting with the dogs, I have made a list and taped up two boxes...it's going to be slow going, but at least I've made a start!

In between times, I tidied my office windowsill and came up with this little arrangement - something nice to look at when I'm working my way through the bills.   A tad eclectic - possibly a sign of a slightly muddled mind - but I think actually it's just a collection of things I am liking today!  One can read too much into these things!

Debbie x

So get on your way....

Okay, here we go, this is it.  My first ever blog post.

I'm not quite sure what form the blog will take, or indeed if it will continue, but for the moment the plan is to use it to post all sorts of "stuff" - my thoughts (which will always be myriad and often confused!), things that are happening in both my life and in the world, and also anything which may come up in relation to my business - Theo & Bernice.

I can't quite decide if this is a huge vanity, but have been thinking of doing it for ages, and after some gentle encouragement from a couple of ladies I met at a vintage fair last weekend, decided to go for it!  Thank you Jo and Fiona (I think)!

I hope (if indeed anyone is out there...) that you find it interesting, sometimes amusing, on occasion thought-provoking.  I would love to hear your comments in return - but please be kind, I'm a fragile soul!

Debbie x