Foyle' s War

 

 

Foyle's War is an excellent TV show from England that Richard and I really enjoy watching.  Set during the time period of World War II in England, Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle  investigates murders and other crimes.  Since it is set in Hastings on the southeast coast, they very often mention the nearby towns of  Bexhill and Eastbourne. (I have spoken of both places in some of my posts. Richard's parents live in Eastbourne.)  Recently, on the episode entitled "Eagle Day"  we were pleased to see that they filmed a scene from the Bandstand   in Eastbourne.  (It was filmed as if they were in Hastings, but trust me, they were in Eastbourne!) 

Temporary Bandstand set up during renovation while we were there in 2012! See the bandstand behind it, with the blue dome?

 

The bandstand is directly opposite the Cavendish Hotel in Eastbourne. The last time we were there, someone pointed out to us that one corner of the hotel looked as if it had been repaired and he either knew or guessed that it had been bombed during World War II.

 I found a video about Eastbourne and although I knew that it had been bombed, I had no idea how

heavily it had been hit or how many people had died.   I am very familiar with Eastbourne, knowing all the buildings that they show here, yet I had never seen the pictures of the bombings. 

image from wikipedia

If you get the chance, please make sure that you watch "Foyle's War".  Michael Kitchen who plays Foyle is an excellent actor and all the other actors are just perfectly cast.  The scripts are very well done and I notice that they have taken great pains to get the period just right.  You can tell a lot of research has gone into every episode. Oh, and don't even get me started on the music!

Crochet "Until All Hearts Are One" Giveaway Winner!

 



Thanks for all who left comments on my crochet heart bunting giveaway and the winner is....


Sue from Mr. Micawber's Recipe for Happiness!
http://mrsmicawber.blogspot.de/2014/02/a-snowy-walk.html

Sue, if you would send me your address, I will get the crochet bunting to you as soon as I can! (Well, not me personally, it will be my English husband who will actually take it to the post office and since you are such an Anglophile, I know that will be okay with you!)

Okay everyone,  click on the link to Sue's blog!  You will be glad you did, tell her Georgia Girl With An English Heart sent you! Such a wonderful writer, you will love her observations of life and all that she shares.

Sorry I have been a bit busy of late and not able to get on all the lovely blogs that I like to visit.  Hope everyone is hanging on and trying to still enjoy life without my witty and oh so insightful comments!  It's hard I know but I am sure you are all surviving, only just!  HA!

Major Dick Winters

If you saw the HBO TV mini-series, "Band of Brothers',  you might be familiar with the name of Dick Winters.  I just found out that there was a monument dedicated to him in Normandy,France..  This was unveiled two years ago , in June of 2012.( I was in England at that time and did not hear much of the news.)  
If you notice from my profile, I was born in Toccoa, Georgia/ The men from Easy Company, (The Band of Brothers) trained at Camp Toccoa, and I remember the stories of the men and how very much respected they all were, and how honored the town felt that the men had trained and lived there.  Perhaps that is where my great respect began for those in World War II, because of my very first memories of seeing the old Army Camp in the shadow of Mt. Currahee. (And my father, as a teenager, helped to build some of the camp.  It was his very first job.)   Even if you have seen the movie, "Band of Brothers", I urge you to seek out the book by the same title, by Stephen Ambrose.  (It was based on his book, of course.)   
A Bridge Too Far   is a World War II book and a movie also....and the bridge that is referred to is the same one that is in the Dick Winters story....Dick Winters died in January of 2011 but I am hopeful that his name and memory will not be forgotten.  I urge you to click on his name and read his story.

(If you watch the video, just stop it after Major  Winters has spoken...you don't want to hear the inane comments from the announcers.)  Typical of Dick Winters, he only agreed to the statue if it could be dedicated to the memory of those who lost their lives in the D-Day landings.

Louis Zamperini-Olympian/Hero

Watching the Olympics in Sochi, I have been thinking of Mr. Zamperini.  Louis Zamperini was in the 1936 Olympics when they were held in Berlin. You  know the one, where Jesse Owens won four gold medals!  Mr. Zamperini was on the same track team and was the roommate of Jesse Owens.   I have written of my admiration of Louis Zamperini and Jesse Owens both, if you look back at some of my earlier posts.  (I read "Devil At My Heels" in 2004 and wrote a letter to the publisher and asked if that letter could be forwarded to Mr. Zamperini just to let him know how much I admired him.  I was surprised to receive a handwritten note from him.  I now know that he must have replied to hundreds of letters!)

 Once you are an Olympian, you are always an Olympian...it would be wonderful to win a medal, but let's face it, the majority of the athletes go home without any medals.  For those who do not place first, second or third...I say to them. hold your head high, you are OLYMPIANS and will always have the memory of having competed amongst the finest of the athletes of your time.

 Mr. Zamperini did not win any medals at his Olympics in 1936, but he is still proud of his Olympic experience and yes, he is still very much with us.   At the age of 97, he still gives inspirational speeches!    His life story has been so full that I can scarcely believe how the director of his life story "Unbroken" will be able to accurately portray his story in the time allotted in a movie.  He has had such a life....   I found a movie trailer of "Unbroken" which will be released this Christmas.  Look at this and tell me what you think.  Me?  I plan to see it as soon as it is released!  If not on Christmas day, at least on the day after that!

 

Crochet Heart Bunting - A Little Giveaway!

Happy Valentine's Day!  Even though a sheriff in Oconee County here in Georgia cancelled Valentine's Day celebrations this year! (This was just a tongue-in-cheek kind of thing, it was because he was getting men off the hook for presents because of the ice storm this week.) The storm that we had here is really quite tame compared to what has happened to the northeast.  This week there have also been big storms with rain and wind in the United Kingdom, with winds over 100 miles an hour.  Hope all who live in the Northeast USA and the UK are okay and still have your electricity! (My in-laws are fine where they are, thank goodness.)

I have been crocheting some little hearts and it is a very nice pattern from Lucy from Attic 24...you may find her pattern just here!  And then, I read a way to join hearts and make them into a bunting!
Bunting is very popular in England, you almost always see bunting used at fayres (fairs) and fetes (what we would call a festival, I suppose.)

I rejoiced at the words from the pattern...it said to keep connecting them until...

"All hearts are joined".

Oh, I really just loved that.  I made one of these heart buntings...but I also made one as a giveaway, to honor all the hearts joined together in our blogging world and to also honor the Olympic spirit that I have been enjoying this week.  So...please leave me a comment and you will be entered into my giveaway!  Here is a photo of the heart bunting on my mantel....

It's just a little thing, but I have enjoyed seeing these hearts strung along my mantel!  I  have placed each end underneath the photo frames at the ends of the mantel and that holds it quite nicely.
Now, these hearts are not as perfect as Lucy's from Attic 24!  Hers are very good. My hearts are a bit wonky but they look sweet if you don't look too closely.

  Want to see some of the cards on my mantel?

The card above was from a co-worker today and I thought it looked pretty with one of my crocheted hearts!

 

This is a hand-made get-well card that was made in England and was sent to me from the Isle of Lewis!  Those are Austrian and Czech crystals in the spoon, and it says "A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down"!  Such a lovely card, I was so sick during the month of January, it really did help!!  Doesn't it fit perfectly in my Valentine collection?  Thanks to the sweet lady who sent this to me, you know who you are! 

.  Our son was always crazy about dinosaurs and here is a card that we gave him years ago, and I  put it out every Valentine's Day, just because it reminds me of our son! (Happy Valentine's to our son and his girlfriend!)

 

 

Now, sometimes a piece of ice can look like a dinosaur...see what you think of the next photo...

 

 

 

 

 

This ice was on our ROOF!    I told you we had an ice storm, didn't I?   

Remember to leave a comment and let me know if you want to be entered for the "Until All Hearts Are Joined" crochet heart bunting giveaway!   I will let you know the winning name by the end of next week!  (Oh, and Richard took the first and last of these photos, and I photographed the others!)  Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, with NO ICE.

Mr. Blue Sky

Richard took this photo about 11:20 this morning!

The ice is melting, the high is supposed to be 45 degrees.  This is the song that I am singing today...

 

My company will be open for half the day today so I must get ready.  I have always loved the blue color of the sky, I was very glad to see it today. It was still snowing this morning with a very grey sky. Take care everyone!

ICE STORM -" HISTORIC AND UNPRECEDENTED"

I really should show you photos of the trees bent over in ice.  I should take a photo of myself dressed in so many layers that I look like the Michelin man. Instead, I will show you a photo of some ice from Panola Mountain that Richard took on a cold morning a few weeks ago!

We were without power for almost three hours this morning and our house was getting colder and colder by the minute...just now, when I was typing replies on my last post, the power came back on and you know what I started singing, don't you?  SURE YOU DO, you know me, don't you?

 

No work today for me or for Richard and for thousands of us in Georgia, and across the Southeast.  I just hope the power stays back on, and if not I will be singing the BLUES!  Thank you to all the power companies who sent trucks from other states to help us in this strong and powerful storm.

(Already had one big pine branch crash down and it sounded like a gunshot, almost scared me silly and I am silly enough already! HA!)

Shirley Temple

Shirley Temple just died.  Did you know that Graham Greene, the famous English author, believed that she must have been a midget (small person) instead of a child because of her incredible acting and dancing talent?  I was just thinking of this song yesterday and watched it on YouTube, it is the one where she sings to her dolls and the dolls come to life, do you know the one?  I was working on a crossword puzzle and the clue was "German for BAH" and of course the answer is "Ach".  And there I go, off to enjoy this... it is from the movie, "Poor Little Rich Girl".  It is amazing to me how perfectly she sings this with all the accents.

And her dancing!   Don't even get me started!  And her obvious love and enjoyment for the people around her!  If you don't believe me, watch her dancing up the staircase with Bojangles Robinson, from the movie, "The Little Colonel".   At one point she just steps to the side and looks up at him with such admiration, it is a joy to see.

Shirley Temple Black served in the United Nations and as an ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia.  She has now passed away but her movies will live forever.  May she rest in peace.

The Sword of Damocles

We have had such gloomy predictions of the snow and ice storm expected in the Atlanta area for the next two days, that it has left me with a great sense of impending doom.  Today, I felt as if something was hanging over my head, and the phrase, "The Sword of Damocles" came to mind.  I wondered if I was thinking of that correctly, so I had to look it up.   Yep, that's the right phrase  You may read about it here. 

 

We just had the snowstorm that paralyzed Atlanta two weeks ago. If we have another day off unexpectedly, I hope that we can take more photos of the birds and that I will make another one of my magnificent meals! (Well, okay, maybe one of my adequate ones, anyway!)

Stay warm and pray for the folks in Georgia who just can't get used to winter weather!

Winter Olympics 2014, Sochi AND Beatles 50th Anniversary

 

Truly enjoying the Winter Olympics. I LOVED the opening ceremony!  The announcers here made such a big deal about the first "glitch" of the game when the one snowflake didn't turn into a ring and there were four rings and one snowflake. I say, so what...you stay a little snowflake little guy, be true to yourself, it's not that big a deal!

I loved all the color and spectacle of the ceremony, it was right up my alley! And I have to tell you that I was thrilled that some of my favorite Russian artists were mentioned in the dream sequence with the little girl...Chekhov, Chagall and Tchaikovsky!  I wish someone could tell me why it is that Tchaikovsky is looked down upon as a composer of music, I think his music is magnificent.  I loved the ballet Swan Lake that they did in the ceremony and at the end after the flame had been lit, they played the Russian Dance from The Nutcracker. also by Tchaikovsky, of course.  (Although, the announcers had to talk a bit over it and they broke away and we didn't get to hear all of it!) 

I found a video for you...can you believe that the water fountain next to the Olympic Flame in Sochi is in perfect timing with Swan Lake!

Tonight, there will be a special celebration of the Beatles on TV, it is the 50th anniversary of their US debut on "The Ed Sullivan Show".  Of course, you know I remember that show!  I wrote about it in a post two years ago, but if you can't remember it, here is what I said...

I love the Beatles.  ...I loved them the moment I saw them on the Ed Sullivan Show in February of 1964. It had been such a horrible time for the country. President Kennedy had been assassinated in November of the year before and that winter seemed very cold and gray. The music in this country had become very stale and dull. When they were first introduced on the Ed Sullivan Show and all the girls started screaming, and I saw their young faces and their long hair, I was hooked. It was like the world coming in color.
This is something that I read recently by the author, Cynthia Rylant, and she has expressed exactly what I felt about the Beatles...

"The Beatles gave me a childhood of sweetest anticipation. Our country was falling apart with war and riots and assassinations, but the Beatles gave me shelter from these things in their music and the dreams they caused me to dream."

We just had the prettiest weekend you could imagine...and we might have another ice/snow storm on Tuesday and Wednesday this week!  This winter has been like a roller-coaster. I guess I will just hang on and enjoy the ride! Hope you all have a great week!

The daffodil below is from this time LAST YEAR...it might be a few weeks before we see this flower, although the green shoots are coming along!

Look Up And See The Clouds!

Luke Howard...do you know that name?  I think you should.  He is the man who named the clouds! An Englishman who lived from 1772 to 1864, he was a manufacturing chemist but was also an amateur meteorologist in his spare time.  By careful study and observation, he named the clouds using Latin names...Cumulus(heap), Stratus (layer), Cirrus(curl of hair) and Nimbus (rain). 

Here is a quote from him...

 

"The sky too belongs to the Landscape. The ocean of air in which we live and move, in which the bolt of heaven is forged, and the fructifying rain condensed, can never be to the zealous Naturalist a subject of tame and unfeeling contemplation,"

 

In my search for information on Luke Howard, I came across the name of John Day.   If you get the chance to click on his name, read about "the cloud man" and you will know why I was so pleased to read his story of how he came to love and appreciate the clouds.  Both of these men in different centuries, looked upon the clouds in a scientific way to begin with, but came to see them as something more, truly seeing the beauty of them.  John Day said this...

 

"The act of seeing nourishes the soul."

 

Here is a book I would like to read, "The Book of Clouds" by John A. Day!

 

 

 

The first four photos are from the USA, all taken in Georgia...the last two are from Eastbourne, England.  Just look at that cloudy sky in the last photo, you would never guess that the sky cleared and it became the prettiest day and evening with not a cloud in sight!



 

 

Record Breaking High Temp in Atlanta Just After The Snow & Ice!

 

 

We had snow and ice here this week. (See my earlier posts about it!) Some snow was still on the ground as of YESTERDAY..

 

 

TODAY,  the 2nd of February, it broke a record in Atlanta for the highest temperature for this time of year.  It was 74 degrees!

Richard took this photo today at Arabia Mountain.  Look at that blue sky!

You can tell I really do have an English heart, I talk about the weather a lot, don't I? But hey, this is truly extraordinary to me! That photo of me holding the icicle? I have never EVER seen an icicle like that in my entire life, in fact I had to ask Richard how to even SPELL icicle!! HA! (And you know I pretended it was a light sabre from Star Wars, right?)

 

 

Remember I told you that I had spent a lot of time crocheting a vest for a one year old baby?  This is a photo of it...oddly enough, I made it in the colors of the Seattle Seahawks, and it looks as if they will win the Super Bowl. (I am watching it now as I am typing this, it is a very one-sided game.)  And the ads during the game?  Terrible!  The game isn't over yet, maybe there will be ONE good advert, I live in hope!

 

 

 

I made Richard some gluten free Chex Mix today AND I made a gluten free cake that I called a Cocoa Coconut Cake and it was really good...it reminds me of an Almond Joy Chocolate Bar...hey, sometimes, you feel like a nut!

 

I miss catchy commercials!  Don't you?