GOODBYE 2012

I'm sad to say 'goodbye' to 2012.

For me, personally, It has been a very memorable year for all the right reasons. A year to be proud to be British.

But it has been a year of extremes: the amazing achievements of the Olympics and Paralympics; the diamond jubilee celebrations; the half-centenary celebrations of dear friends and my own...the devastation of Hurricane Sandy in the US; the cyclone in Samoa; severe drought in West Africa; earthquakes in the Middle East, the Philippines and China; the floods here and other countries; too many natural disasters to list, but 2012 also brought avalanches, tornadoes and flash fires. Then there is the list of man-made events. Right now, the ones that come most vividly and tragically to my mind are the suicide of Jacintha Saldanha, the nurse, and the senseless killing of the innocent children in Connecticut. Tragic beyond words.

I hope 2013 will be a year to reflect.

  

I wish you a

HAPPY NEW YEAR

 

May your 2013

be 

A GOOD ONE!

Sue x

Mowgli

We lost our beautiful Mowgli a year ago.

We still miss him so much.

Mowgli The Mowgles

Once in a Lifetime Part Two

Where have the past couple of months gone?
I intended to do this post just a week after the last one but the time came and went. I have so many excuses and reasons for my absence from Blogland; I won't bore you with any of them.

I am now back and raring to go, equipped with Youngest Darling Daughter's cast-off and slightly squiffy old Acer laptop wired up to a screen with a  Mac Mini for support, a sort of PC Mac marriage. So lets get on with it...

Back to this year's catchphrase: 'Once in a lifetime...'

The month of June saw Youngest Darling Daughter having a painting selected for an exhibition at the Royal West of England Academy sponsored by the local Police Constabulary. I am so proud of her and very flattered that she chose me as her subject.

Hubby and I spent a weekend in Whitstable to attend the 50th Birthday Bash of one of our oldest friends. I had so much fun and couldn't help but think that I don't make the trip to Whitstable often enough nowadays. I intend to remedy that in the coming months.

And the end of June was when Darling Daughter First Born celebrated her twentieth birthday. Her teenage years now just memories, she completed her first year at university with very good grades and came home for the summer, no longer a university fresher, no longer a teenage girl. Another once in a lifetime notched up for this young woman, my Daughter. She has matured into a lovely person, full of warmth and humour and I smile inside and out whenever I think of her.

July saw Youngest Darling Daughter celebrating her eighteenth birthday and leaving school. So my little girl will never be a child again, or at least not in the eyes of the law or society at large.  It makes me a bit sad to think of the end of childhood. It's silly, I know.

This month was when the judging of the exhibition took place, too. We went along to a very pleasant presentation evening at the Academy. Alas, Youngest Darling Daughter didn't win a prize for her effort but she did receive lots of critical acclaim. She is such a talented girl and so modest. I am so very proud of her. In fact, you know, I am a very lucky woman because I have two wonderful daughters, so just forgive me for a moment whilst I gloat :D

Off to watch Team GB!

The end of July brought us the Olympics. What can I say that hasn't been said already? I was and still am proud to be British after such a fantastic Games. And August brought the Paralympics - strength, prowess, inspiration and admiration in bucketloads. Then, Youngest Darling Daughter received excellent A Level results, confirmation of a place at her first choice university and had a painting selected for another exhibition for young artists at The View Gallery in Bristol. We attended another very pleasant private viewing and presentation evening. I could get used to this...

September arrived and Youngest Darling Daughter started her Art Foundation course. Hubby and I made plans for a short break in Dubai. Hubby was taking part in a training conference there. I was a bit lonely at times during the day, but I loved Dubai. The heat was a bit much for me, so I spent most of the daytimes in the hotel - thank goodness for air conditioning and the hotel pool. I would love to go back to Dubai soon, with my girls, and share the experience with them. I hope that wasn't a once in a lifetime. It is a lovely place and the people are very friendly, polite and helpful. I highly recommend it.

As September came to an end, we set off on the drive to London to take Darling Daughter First Born back to university. Another year of study ahead of her, new experiences to be had and friends to meet, I know she will continue to blossom. I miss her so much when she is at university, but I am so glad she is able to have this experience. We chat regularly on Skype so it feels like she isn't so very far away.

In early October, I met my two dear university friends in London to celebrate one lovely lady's fiftieth birthday. We had a gorgeous lunch at The Roux at Parliament Square and shared lots of stories and laughter. I have known these ladies for over thirty years but I never tire of their company. We have shared so much over the decades, lots of joy and some very sad times too and I love them both. Friends like that only come along once in a lifetime. I hope I never take them for granted. And now I am up to date...October is drawing to a close.

When you stop and think about it, many things, many ordinary events and encounters are once in a lifetime. Birthdays, yes, they happen every year, but they are never the same. To quote T S Eliot: 'All time is unredeemable.' I think I know what he means. We can't change the past or expect the same to happen in the future. We can't alter time or save it, but we can learn from it. We have to treat each moment as unique, even if we follow the same routine every day. And those things that we do everyday, are different in some way from the previous day. So whether we are trying for an Olympic Gold Medal, joining friends or family to celebrate a birthday or just popping to the local shop for some milk, I want to embrace every day from now on as a once in a lifetime.

Once in a Lifetime Part One

A once in a lifetime experience...

That's a phrase I've heard and used a lot recently.

The first time I said it this year was way back in May, when the anticipation of waiting for the Olympic Torch was just so exciting.

Even though it was all over in a flash, I can say I was there. A once in a lifetime, unique, experience.

Can I claim it was unique when I shared it with thousands of people, young and old?

Yes, I think so, it will never be an event that I am likely to see again, not here in my country, in my town, on my doorstep.

History.

Then in June, we celebrated the Queen's Diamond Jubilee; another occasion that will never come around again.

The whole country seemed to be decorated with union flags and bunting. I don't remember it being so obvious during the Silver or Golden Jubilees.

We celebrated the Jubilee weekend with a huge feast at my sister's house...

We ate and drank far too much.

And on Jubilee Tuesday, we caught a coach to London and joined the masses in the rain. But everyone smiled...

and waved flags and cheered...

despite having to view the Queen on a big screen in St. James Park, because we couldn't get anywhere near the Palace; the streets of London were packed!

We did have a fantastic view of the Red (White and Blue) Arrows from the park.

Yet another day that can never be recaptured...

And this fantastic image appeared on the wall opposite the Childrens' Hospital in Bristol, where once had been a Banksy of a boy about to pop a bag behind a police marksman, and then the Eton Posse, David Cameron and Boris Johnson rioting! 

Who knows if it's a Banksy or not, who really cares? It is a once in a lifetime image of the Queen.

So that brings me to the middle of June, and the middle of the summer. Very soon 2012 will be a once in a lifetime too.

I'll fill you in on the past two and half months in my next post...