Dec
31
2008
3

The 2008 summary

Well, 2008 has been both a very difficult and a very happy year, split mainly into two parts.

January – August was a pretty horrid time for me. Lots of family stuff was happening including my lovely Gran Nora dying and my younger sister getting married for a second time. At the start of the year there felt like there was so much grief, so much to try to deal with and in all honesty I wasn’t dealing with any of it very well. I was frustrated, angry, tired and lonely – all difficult on their own but in combination they felt pretty devastating. However, there were a few high points during this month, such as some time spent with Peterson and various other friends. Even though the good bits during these months seemed few and far between at the time, there was actually loads of them and reviewing my blog has helped me to remember that.

The most significant change for me this year came on August bank holiday. If anyone had told me at the beginning of 2008 that The Mister and I would get together in the beer tent on the last night of Greenbelt I would have laughed. However, it would seem that our friends who were observing us that night were not at all surprised, and there was definitely a bit of enouragement going on there.

So, an unexpected evening has brought about some real lasting happiness (well, it has lasted 4 months so far) and it was so nice to spend Christmas with him. Who knows what 2009 will bring. It would seem that I am destined to become an aunt though (kind of a tough one for me) but other than that I just don’t know. I am very hopeful that it will be more consistently better than 2008, especially the first half!

So, it just leaves me to say a big thank you to all who have read this blog and commented and sent me messages. Your support over the year when things have been tough have been invaluable and your joy in sharing the good things has been fantastic.

I hope that 2009 is a good year for us all…. so Happy New Year!!

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: ,
Dec
30
2008
3

A little culture

Today The Mister and I took a little trip to The British Museum. Apart from a brief visit earlier in the year to see the Hadrian exhibition I have never had the chance to wander around the museum. It’s fascinating, but I have decided that I really do have a fascination with death, dying and the rituals associated with these major events. Anyway, the other thing I realised is that I do have the shortest attention span in the world… after about 15 minutes of seeing one thing or the other I get pretty bored. I still adore the roof though, and The Mister had to stop me taking even more photos of it.

At the British Museum at the moment they have five contemporary sculptures on display including one by Ron Mueck that The Mister wanted to see and an Anthony Gormley that I wanted to see. The Ron Mueck one is pictured here on the right… it was fab but odd. He does very realistic sculptures of people, but they are either enormous, or dinky. This was a huge one and you could see each individual whisker and spots on the face. Very cool.

Anyway, after we had spent a couple of hours at the museum and I had got bored we wandered off to find something to eat before The Mister managed to get a cup of his favourite Tim Horton’s coffee. It’s good to keep him happy!

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: , , ,
Dec
28
2008
0

RC Part 84 – Atlantic Shift by Emily Barr

Atlantic Shift by Emily Barr is a fab book for when you are travelling. It is improbable and slightly ridiculous in places but I did enjoy it.

Easy to read, intelligent chick-lit with a pretty good story and likeable characters. What more does one need?

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: , , ,
Dec
27
2008
4

Handmade loveliness

Several people got handmade Christmas presents from me this year… so here is a quick run down…


From top to bottom…..

A big bag for my surrogate Mum.

A handbag made out of blue linen and edged with cream and floral fabric, finished off with a blue corsage. For a Secret Santa present.

A bag made out of brown cord and lined with gorgeous brown and cream fabric. Finished off with pink buttons and a metal magnetic clasp.

A Secret Santa present… probably my favourite bag this year. Made out of gorgeous check fabric (from the Scrapstore!), lined with purple and finished off with handmade felt flowers. The recipient was delighted!

There were a couple more presents…. I made a fab lime green check bag for Auntie Billie but forgot to take a photo of it… anyway I was very happy with them all and they seemed to be appreciated 🙂

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: , ,
Dec
27
2008
1

Happy Christmas and brrrrrr!!!!!

Happy Christmas everyone.

We had a lovely day on Christmas Day, although we ate far too much as usual. We did make it out for a short walk in the afternoon but by the time we had dragged ourselves off the sofa it was starting to get dark!!

On Boxing Day morning we walked down to the beach to see the foolish people who decided to do the ‘polar bear’ swim. It wasn’t too cold although the wind was pretty chilly, and even the Bailiff of Guernsey decided to go in. Some people went in fancy dress, but the one that made me laugh the most was the guy who had a shark fin strapped to his back.

DSCN5648DSCN5651
DSCN5650DSCN5654

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: ,
Dec
24
2008
1

Happy Birthday to me…. and why I am a dwarf!

Yesterday was a fun day because it was my birthday and I was 21 again. In the morning I sat in the kitchen and waited for people to visit me, which they did. In the afternoon The Mister and I went out for a nice walk aroud the coast. We walked up to Fort Hommet and explored all the way around the fortifications. We also found a big cave which has been created through the sea eroding part of the rocks. Admittedly we had to walk around the fenced off area to look at it but that’s besides the point!! According to one of the information boards by the fortifications there is a legend that there is a fairy cave at Fort Hommet and apparently the fairy men came out from the fairy underworld and had babies with the Guernsey women…. which is why many Guernsey folk are short in stature. The Mister thinks this explains a lot.

DSCN5565DSCN5577
DSCN5571DSCN5561

In the evening The Mister and I went out for dinner to Le Petit Bistro with my parents and my sister and brother-in-law. Really nice meal to round off a fab day.

DSCN5593
DSCN5594

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: ,
Dec
20
2008
2

RC Part 83 – Case Histories by Kate Atkinson & Shut Eye by Adam Baron

Both of these books are about private detectives investigating various different murders and unsavoury goings on. The problem is that I read the first one and listened to the second one in the car on CD. As a result, the stories and characters became rather interchangeable. Not very helpful when you are trying to work out what us going on!!!!

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: , ,
Dec
18
2008
8

Manora – the end of an era


Today has been very much the end of an era. Gran Nora’s house has gone through and for the first time in well over half a century it no longer belongs to the family. What I hadn’t realised was that in Guernsey is it quite a formal procedure and my Mum, aunts, uncle and my cousins (the children of my Uncle Steve who died) all had to go to the Royal Court in order for the paperwork to be completed.

It’s quite a strange feeling because I have so many happy memories tied into this house. When we were kids it was the most amazing place to play hide and seek because there were so many hiding places. Many hours were spent sitting on the wall around the front of the property, watching the world go by or all the cousins swimming down at the gully by the Lion Rock below. So many photos have been taken with people sitting on this wall! I have fond memories of sitting in front of the TV with my lovely grandpa, watching Playschool and podding peas. In later years, when Gran was much more frail she could often be found sitting in her favourite seat in the window from where she could see all arrivals to the front door, as well as look at the wonderful sea view. So many memories tied up in one place.

The thought of the house belonging to another family is hard, and yet no-one in the family could take it on because it needed so much work doing to it. Also, I am not sure that it would have been the right thing to do. Manora was, and is, part of our history; where we have come from and the experiences there have helped to shape us into the vibrant and strong family that we are today. Today we have to move on, however painful and difficult that is, and we have to shape a different future, without Gran Nora, but still with the rest of us to carry on what she started. That has to be something to look forward to.

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: , , ,
Dec
18
2008
2

phew!

I only have one day left at work. I am asbolutely knackered and I still have masses of work to do before I can clean my house, pack, go to London on Friday night for a carol service, drive to the airport on Saturday, catch a flight and go to sleep on the plane.

I wish I could click my fingers and have everything done. Either that or I need staff.

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: ,
Dec
16
2008
6

Velvet heaven

I have been having a lovely few weeks making things for Christmas presents. Most of which I can’t show you yet because that would spoil the surprise!!

However, I also took the time to make something for myself. I picked up some (free!!) lovely soft brown velvet fabric from the Wot-Ever Scrapstore in Welwyn Garden City. I then lined it with red linen and added a cute knitted red rose made by Anjie who I met at the St Albans Flea Market on Sunday (oo by the way Anjie… if you happen to be reading this… lovely flower, but the clasp had broken before I even got it out of the packet… so at the moment the rose is held onto the bag by a safety pin or two!!)

Anyway, let me know what you think and I will show you the other things I have been making after Christmas. The only trouble I have been having is taking decent photos of things… I am having to take them into work to try and find some natural daylight!

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: , ,

Design: TheBuckmaker.com WordPress Themes