Sisters

This was sent to me in an email today and I thought I would share it
  

A young wife sat on a sofa on a hot humid day, drinking iced tea and visiting with her Mother. As they talked about life,about marriage, about the responsibilities of life and the obligations ofadulthood, the mother clinked the ice cubes in her glass thoughtfully and turned a clear, sober glance upon her daughter.  "Don't forget your Sisters," she advised, swirling the tea leaves to the bottom of her glass. "They'll be more important as you get older. No matter how much you love your husband, no matter how much you love the children you may have, you are still going to need Sisters. Remember to go places with them now and then; do things with them."  "Remember that 'Sisters' means ALL the women...your girlfriends, your daughters, and all your otherwomen relatives too. "You'll need other women. Women always do. "What a funny piece of advice!' the young woman thought. Haven't I just gotten married? Haven't I just joined the couple-world? I'm now a married woman, for goodness sake! A grown up! Surely my husband and the family we may start will be all Ineed to make my life worthwhile!'But she listened to her Mother. She kept contact with her Sisters and made more women friends each year. As the years tumbled by, one after another,she gradually came to understand that her Mom really knew what she was talking about. As time and nature work their changes and their mysteries upon a woman,Sisters are the mainstays of her life.

After more than 40 years of living in this world, here is what I've learned:

 THIS SAYS IT ALL:

Time passes.  Life happens.  Distance separates.  Children grow up.  Jobs come and go.  Love waxes and wanes.  Men don't do what they're supposed to do. Hearts break. Parents die. Colleagues forget favors. Careers end.

BUT......... 

Sisters are there, no matter how much time and how many miles are between you. A girl friend is never farther away than needing her can reach. When you have to walk that lonesome valley and you have to walk it by yourself, the women in your life will be on the valley's rim, cheering you on, praying for you, pulling for you, intervening on your behalf, and waiting with open arms at the valley's end. Sometimes, they will even break the rules and walk beside you...Or come in and carry you out. Girlfriends, daughters, granddaughters, daughters-in-law, sisters, sisters-in-law, Mothers, Grandmothers, aunties, nieces, cousins, and extended family, all bless our life!

The world wouldn't be the same without women, and neither would I. When we began this adventure called womanhood, we had no idea of the incredible joys or sorrows that lay ahead. Nor did we know how much we would need each other. Every day, we need each other still. Pass this on to all the women who help make your life meaningful I just did. Short and very sweet:

There are more than twenty angels in this world. Ten are peacefully sleeping on clouds. Nine are playing. And one is reading her email at this moment.

Can you spare me?

Part of my job role at the charity I manage is to raise funds - these fund go towards giving carers/care givers breaks, so that they can take 'time off' from their caring roles.

I am toying the idea of putting together a booklet, or series of booklets

recipes

tips and hints

poetry/short stories

and as I want this to be original stuff and not something I have pinched from books or magazines, I was wondering if anyone would like to make a charitable contribution - with your name attributed (if you so wish) and country of origin

Once I have got enough stuff together, the booklets would be sold for funds.  I could even make them available here if people wanted.

I have to tell you that I have these mad, creative ideas from time to time

 

To start off I will share with you a recipe for soup that was given to me today - have not tried it yet, but will tomorrow as I have just found some courgettes lurking in the fridge.

Courgette/Zucchini soup

Boil 4 courgettes/zucchini in chicken stock (a stock cube is ok, if you do not have the real thing), with a tablespoon of curry powder. Use enough liquid to cover the courgettes/zucchi

When courgettes are soft, wizz together in a blender (add more water if required to get the consistency you require) - reheat if necessary

Put in some Philadelphia cheese

It is now ready to serve.

I understand that it can be eaten hot or cold.

Lazy day on the river 4

At last I have found how to upload more that 8 pictures at a time, so this is the last of the ones I took on our canal trip.

Part of my task when we have these outings is to provide lunch for people.  This year I decided to have jacket potatoes, so at 7.30 am in the morning I had potatoes in the microwave to part cook them through, and then they could go into the oven on the boat to brown and crisp them.  For fillings we had cheese, tuna/mayonnaise, coleslaw and beans, with side salad of lettuce, cucumber and tomato.  They had started with melon wedges and finished with a variety of cheesecakes.  All washed down with a variety of fruit juices.

No sooner had the washing up party finished their duties after lunch, then it was time for afternoon tea and even more biscuits (as I had forgotten to buy cakes for the afternoon).

The sun came out during the day but it never got too hot, although some of us showed evidence of the sun rays (even through cloud) having pinked up our skin. I am one of those unfortunate people who go red, blister and then revert to being pale skinned.

As we had been held up at the first lock our journey had been delayed, with further delays being caused by the horse drawn barges, so to our delight we ended up spending two additional hours on the canal, meaning everyone finally went home happy and tired.

Now that I have managed to work out how to get pictures here I will start to go back through our adventures in our 'Grand Tour of America' and start to post pictures for you all to see.

 

Lazy day on the river 3

Along the Kennet and Avon Canal they also have horse drawn barges, left over from bygone days.  We passed many of these and were glad to see something from a bygone era.  Although picturesque this mode of transport can be fraught with dangers for passengers of other passing barges.  At the time I was at the back of the boat talking to the crew when they yelled 'duck'.  Duly crouching down quickly I was then somewhat surprised to get a hearty thwack across the backside as the mooring rope from the horse drawn barge was thrown over our boat and it caught me stern side, meaning I spent the next hour or so trying to drying our my nether regions

much to the delight of the other passengers on board.

Lazy Day on the River 2

These pictures show us in one of the locks, where the water levels are being changed as we were going uphill on this journey.

We were in danger of not being able to make the trip as at the first lock workmen were trying to fix the gate where it had dropped off of its hinges.  For the participants of the trip it was a good time to relax, enjoy their morning coffee and chat.

 

Lazy Day on the River

One of the great things about my job is that I get to laze on the river from time to time.  We have not had much of a summer, but Wednesday 5th September was a morning of promise that did not fail to let us down for the whole day.

I run various clubs for people with disabilities and spend quite a lot of time with these particular club members. As well us having problems in common with mobility, they are a fun group and each year organise a trip for us all on the Kennet and Avon Canal.  This year I also took my other half, using the rational that he was recurperating from his op, so met the trips criteria.  The truth was that I just did not want to leave him all day, and this trip is so lovely that I did not want him to miss out.

So 16 of us set out at 10.00 am in the morning, and my first job of the day (after all the shopping) was to make sure everyone was settled with morning tea/coffee and a good supply of biscuits.  This trip is never very diabetic friendly, although all those who are diabetic assure me that they will be good the next day.  The boat that we us is hired by the local Lions club for a week and is fully adapted for people with disabilities.  The take one charitable group per day out, with the crew members giving up time from work take the boat through the locks.

The highlight for most people is travelling through the locks, some of which you can see from the photos and I will put the rest on a bit later - for some reason I could only put 8 on at a time?

As you can see the day was gorgeous - not too hot, but plenty of sunshine.  What I love is the reflections into the water.  I am not sure how I got this photo effect and I am impressed by the fact it looks as though the river is moving, like a movie, rather than still photos.

 

More to come

My knee

Well, I saw my GP about my knee and the Xrays show severe wear and tear, with a couple of bits of broken off ligament floating around, but as I am so young (57) he feels that it needs to be left for a while before they do anything.

Obviously I was not happy with this, so I am seeing the specialist in a couple of weeks and they are going to see if they can remove the couple of bits of broken off ligament in the back of my knee, which is probably the reason I am in so much pain.