Friday Smiles on Saturday

My little sis sent me some photos from Oz that we had taken on a spree in a large retail place (which shall be nameless - we might get banned) but yesterday (Friday) I was on the bed most of the day as my back was really bad which is why I am not posting until today, Saturday.  Fingers crossed, I am ok today.

Well, I have a penchant for trying hats on and luckily Karen liked it too so we had a rare old time trying on some fascinators (which I have not liked up to now but am slowly coming around to them). We laughed until we cried when we were selecting hats from the huge display and certainly when we had them on.  Not being in to fascinators I never knew if I had them on right or not - so much fun!

Karen chose white

Whilst I chose a blue one

It looks so tiny, have I got a big head or is this intended for a child?  Didn't think it looked so small when we had the photos taken.

Karen liked my blue one so she went for silver grey

Whilst I chose black - is it a frisbee? 

I really like big hats, in fact I had one for a friend's wedding and Chas could not stand close or he tilted my hat.  Anyway, after that little aside I will show you some Big Hats that we tried on.  We were giggling like two schoolgirls and the shop assistants were looking at us so we invented a wedding we were going to (??) and loudly asked one another if our other halves would like the various ones or not. As we were taking photos it was feasible that they were for husband's benefit. Wasn't it?

Karen made me smile in this one as it almost drowned her.

They say women who wear glasses shouldn't wear hats so I took mine off - I think I needed some make up, especially on the eyes.  Not a good look!

Not sure if Karen is waving "bye" or adjusting her hat

My coat has a huge collar which stands up behind my neck.  Fine when the weather is bad and it is raining or snowing but it kept tilting my hat so I had to hold it down.  Not got my hand on my heart.

Well, that is it, we had to stop as we were due to meet Chas and had done no shopping.   We certainly had a laugh and I would love to do it all over again.  Maybe in Spring or Summer when I am not muffled up against the biting winds of January/February this year.  Sadly Karen is now back home so I need a friend to try hats on with - any offers?

Friday - A Poppy Comes Home

On Friday my son came over with his partner because it was 100 years to the day since my Great Uncle (Andy's Great Great Uncle) had been killed at Gallipoli.

To mark the occasion I had decided it was the appropriate day to put the ceramic Poppy, that had previously resided at the Tower of London, in the garden so Andy and I went outside and hammered the metal rod in and then attached the ceramic head.

Wanting to verify that Great Uncle Harry really was 21 when he was killed I got the family bible out. Andy searching in it amongst the pages found some newspaper cuttings and I cannot remember ever having seen this one that he unearthed which mentions Great Uncle Harry being killed on the 4th June 1915 so maybe someone got it wrong somewhere.  I think I'll go with the War Commission date.

To keep in with the day I had made a Lamb Tagine (Turkish'ish) which we had with roasted veg, from a Mediterranean recipe which was the best way of serving veg I could think of to be in keeping with the day. The veg recipe was new and we really enjoyed it, so much so that Chas and I had it again yesterday with some fish.

I used courgette, aubergine, peppers, onion, all cut into big chunks, and cherry tomatoes, baby potatoes (parboiled) which I put in a bowl and marinaded with basil, rosemary, thyme, pinch of chilli powder, garlic and balsamic vinegar for an hour or so.  Then I put the whole lot in a dish and sprayed with some Frylight before putting in the oven on a high heat for 30 minutes.  Try it and add anything else (I added mushrooms last night) that takes your fancy.

Now Andy and I have a laminated copy of the War Graves Commissions certificate and I have a couple of copies to give to other family members and I will send copies off to Australia where we have other family members.

My poppy has come home!