Over at The Gallery this week the theme is creatures.
The only creatures that feature heavily in this house are this pair…
Meet “Teddy Bear” who belongs to Katie and “Woof Woof” who belongs to Robyn. They go to bed with the girls every night and are very much a part of the family!
Over on The Gallery this week the theme is “Friendship”. I have 2 best friends and I feel truely blessed to have them both.
3 years ago today I married my soul mate. Here we are with our precious girls after we signed the registers in church…
The 26th May 2007 was THE happiest day of my life. I know it’s a cliché but it’s true. First and foremost Anthony is my friend… 
But he is also my wonderful husband…
Happy Anniversary my wonderful Anthony. I love you xxx
See now I couldn’t mention friendship without talking about Lorna… I have known her for 14 years.
Here we are on the day of Robyns baptism…
Here we are on a rather drunken night out…
And here we are on my wedding day… did I mention that it was 3 years ago today lol.
We can go for weeks without speaking what with busy lives and living a few hours apart from eachother but when we do speak it’s as though we’ve never been apart. Friends like Lorna are very special.
So cheers, here’s to friendship and also to marriage. Long may they prosper xxx
This weeks theme for the Gallery is The World We Live In.
It is no secret on my blog that I love Taizé. It is a tiny village in Burgundy, France. In that village you will find a monastic community that welcomes people from all around the world. In the summer months there are thousands of young people all there for the same reason… to worship and learn more about their Christian faith.
I first went there when I was just 17. I fell in love with it immediately and returned the following year. Then I had a 13 year gap until February of this year until I could go back again.
The food and accomodation is… well, let’s just say “basic” is being kind! It is all part of the experience though. It must be ok to keep thousands of people going back time after time!
I cannot describe how I feel when I am there. I don’t think I’d want to try too hard. It is a very personal feeling but it is enough to say I feel spiritually uplifted and always leave feeling I have had a fresh breath of life pumped into me.
Yes. Taizé is the corner of the world that I adore. It is a truly special place for me.
It’s Gallery time again and the theme is “Portraits”.
Last Friday I went to watch the Dancing on Ice tour with Robyn. Imagine the scene… just me and my eldest daughter on an exciting trip to watch a show! Robyn is a huge fan of the TV show Dancing on Ice and Anthony very kindly splashed out and bought me and her a ticket each to see the tour in Manchester.
We only live 30 minutes from Manchester on the train so off we went after school. We went and got something to eat before the show started and then we went and found our seats in the M.E.N arena. Robyn was totally gobsmacked! I don’t think she expected it to be as huge as it was.
The show was absolutely fantastic. We shouted, cheered and clapped. We also boo’d when Nicky (one of the judges) only gave Hayley (our favourite) a score of 5.0 for her Jai Ho skate. The audience went crazy.
I watched in amazement when Torvill & Dean skated. Seeing them skate a variation of “Bolero” which won them their gold medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics made my hairs stand on end. Totally awesome (that was just for you Mel!).
Anyway, back to the Gallery! I only took my compact camera to the show and I snapped a picture of Robyn while we were waiting at the train station on the way. A beautiful portrait of my beautiful girl.
Come and have a look at all the other Gallery entries. There are some wonderful portaits!
I missed last weeks post on The Gallery. If I am honest it just stumped me! The prompt was “Ugly” and I’m trying so hard to think positive at the moment that I couldnt bring myself to think ugly thoughts lol.
I’m back though and this weeks prompt is “Joy”.
Last week my best friend who I miss so so much had a beautiful baby girl. We moved up to Yorkshire over 2 years ago and so I don’t get to see my friend as often as I’d like. I think about her every day and I know that no matter how many times a year we see eachother (last year it was twice) we will remain the very best of friends for life. She knows far too much about me for us to fall out lol.
So… joy. Baby Alexis Iona was born fit and well last Wednesday. I dont think there is much more of a joyous occasion than the birth of a new baby. I spent last Wednesday telling everyone I know that Lorna had given birth. I was so excited for her.
On Sunday my wonderful husband drove me and the girls down to visit Lorna and her lovely family. We spent the most wonderful afternoon together. It was so important for me to visit my friend and give her new precious baby some snuggles. It was definitely a joyful occasion. Seeing the friend that means so much to me and holding her newborn daughter. I also managed to take some photographs of Alexis which in turn has given Lorna so much joy. She said she cried when she saw this picture and I have to say I keep finding myself gazing at it too.
I am so proud of my friend. I miss her every day but it is moments like Sunday that keep me going. I know that we are there for eachother when we need it the most. In times of sorrow and joy, just as friends should be. Last year the two occasions we saw eachother were a funeral and Lornas own wedding. Sorrow and joy.
Here we are together last Sunday
Friendship doubles our joy and divides our grief.– Swedish proverb
Over at The Gallery this week the prompt is “Outside my front door”. I smiled when I saw the prompt because I am very proud of where I live. It is a beautiful place and I count myself very lucky to call it home.I’m very sorry because I can’t choose one picture, there will be a few in this post!
This picture was taken from my door step in February.
This next one is also taken from my doorstep last week
We live in the middle of the Pennine hills, on the border of Lancashire and West Yorkshire. Our little town is nestled down in the middle of 3 steep valleys and so the hills can be seen from pretty much wherever you are in the town.
There are lots of mills in the town which are now sadly unused or are being used for other things. Outside my front door is one of these mills. It has been separated off and is used for different things. There is a garage in one bit, one section is currently empty and the other is used as the HQ for a local firm who create straw bale buildings. They run courses in there and give talks.
This is the view across our park.
We have a river (The Calder) and a canal running through the town. The river is 10 seconds from our house and so we are always over there feeding the ducks and the trout that call it home. Being on the Pennine Way means we get lots of walkers visiting. We have a lovely market which is a 2 minute walk from our home. The indoor market is great with 3 excellent butchers, deli stalls, hardware, haberdashery, florists and sweets! The outdoor market stalls change daily and it serves the town very well. The viaduct that runs through the town is a real landmark. Katie loves to watch the trains going across.
Yes, I love it where we live. There is so much outside our front door to see and do. The people here are wonderful too. I am so glad we moved here 2 years ago. It’s the best thing we ever did!
It’s Gallery time again!
The prompt this week is “Me”. I’ve already posted a self portrait on week 1 so I’ve had to choose something slightly different.
I’ve sat and thought “Who am I?”. I’ve been wondering what one image I could use that incorporates all that I am. I came up with this…
It is obviously a picture of me on my wedding day. Here I am surrounded by my wonderful family. I am Mel. I am a wife and I am a mother.
I am my own person too. I like to spend time on my own and I love my friends dearly.
At the heart of all this though is my family. Without them I would crumble.
To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.
–Confucius–
So, this week the prompt for The Gallery is “Colour”. I’ve gone with Green because it seems to have featured in my photos alot this week and also as we are celebrating St. Patrick’s Day today.
On Saturday we went to Manor Heath Park where they have a “Jungle Experience”. It is free and is a tropical oasis in the middle of a park in Halifax. We have been meaning to visit for a while and with the return of our car we decided we should get out and about!
We had a really lovely time. We saw butterflies, quails, terrapins and fish aswell as wonderful tropical plants. There was plenty to see and we are definitely going back in the summer when we hope there will be more butterflies aswell as more colour in the actual park which was also beautiful.
Here’s just a small selection of the wonderful greens that we saw.
As I already mentioned, today we are celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. Robyns dad is Irish and dear Granny Mary was so proud of their Irish roots. Each year Mary would take Robyn out with all the family to celebrate and the party atmosphere was great.
Today Robyn went to school wearing an Irish ribbon and shamrock badge. She was so proud to tell her teacher and friends that she is half Irish and that she was wearing the badge to celebrate St. Patrick’s day. She even showed the headteacher in the school yard at the end of the school day.
Yep, green is definitely the colour today 😀
You can see more Gallery posts on Colour here.
We are a team. We do as much as we can together.
I was reminded on Emilys blog this morning that even our flaws are important to somebody. I love my family to the ends of the earth and back again. Yes, they have traits that might be annoying at times but those flaws give personality. Someone who is perfect would be awfully dull don’t you think?! If you think you are perfect surely you are setting yourself up to fail.
These 3 people teach me new things every day. They make me proud every day and they make me laugh every day.
Be proud of yourself and your family. Don’t aim for perfection, aim for happiness.
Find more Gallery posts on Numbers here
Tara at Sticky Fingers has come up with a superb feature to prompt more photographs. It is called The Gallery. This is what she says to introduce the idea.
The Gallery
Every other week I will give you a prompt, an idea, a notion and you go out and take a photograph using that prompt. Or just use a photo you already have.
The prompt could be one word, an object, an idea, a phrase, anything, and you have to post a picture which you feel represents that prompt.
Post it on your blog and write about it.
That’s it.
So, this weeks prompt is Beauty. I have thought long and hard about this. It would be very easy to post a photograph of Robyn or Katie or a happy family scene. It would also be easy for me to post a photo of the area I live in. The Pennine hills are a really beautiful place to live. We are surrounded by beauty here.
Instead then I am posting this picture…
I have always struggled with the word beauty and how it could possibly relate to me. I am not a confident person, I’ve been overweight for as long as I can remember and when I was at school my looks gained me attention for all the wrong reasons.
Anthony calls me his “Sweet fairy princess”. To him I am the most beautiful woman in the world. Robyn often tells me I am beautiful and gets very defensive if I say otherwise. For me this is enough.
The people that matter the most think I am beautiful. I really need to start believing it. I want to start taking more self portraits in my 365 project (you can find my photos on Flickr) and to do that I need to believe in myself more.
I am beautiful no matter what they say
Words can’t bring me down
I am beautiful in every single way
Yes, words can’t bring me down
So don’t you bring me down today
Find more Gallery posts on Beauty here
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