Antiques Roadshow UK.

If you have a passion for antiques or objects in general with a "history", and you subscribe to BBC America, a special treat is aired each afternoon.

Antiques Roadshow is a British television show in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom and appraise antiques brought in by local residents. It has been running since 1979.

A collaboration of WGBH's ANTIQUES ROADSHOW and the original BBC series now in its 24th season, Antiques Roadshow UK is packed with flea market finds, heirlooms, and junkyard gems—many with a royal pedigree. Antiques Roadshow UK boasts a lively team of savvy British appraisers and a delightful cross section of local citizenry.

It has traveled the length and breadth of the United Kingdom, from Lochgilphead in the Western Highlands to Selby in Yorkshire, from Caernarfon in Wales to Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, not to mention Birmingham and Blackpool.

Unlike it's US counterpart, the UK team of appraisers, air their program from historic sites scattered all across Britain.

There are special open-air shows from Forde Abbey, Knebworth House, Cliveden and Eastnor Castle, while another program comes from Glamis Castle Castle, childhood home of the Queen Mother.

The royal connection continues with a special Victorian ROADSHOW from the Victoria and Albert Museum to mark the centenary of the death of Queen Victoria.

Series host Michael Aspel (seated) with appraisers (from left) Eric Knowles, Paul Atterbury and Henry Sandon.

If you fancy a little getaway to the Sceptred Isle this is the perfect opportunity.

Winter Dreams.

" The cotage homes of England/By thousands on her plains."
~ Felicia Hermans

Where you'll find me, in my dreams.....

No Snow ?

The debut of their new techie weather- prediction equipment on the local news station last night, boasted "highly accurate" forecasting.
It failed to predict the new falling snow, we are once again experiencing here in middle Tennessee.
Pffffff. Poppycock.

What The Dickens ?

"I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year."

A Christmas Carol ~Charles Dickens, Ebeneezer Scrooge,

Several years ago, our small town, was graced by a visit from Gerald Charles Dickens, great-great grandson of the author 'A Christmas Carol '.

It was the highlight of the town's Victorian Christmas Festival, a seventy -five minute on stage performance and one-man show of a descendant of the beloved author Charles Dickens.

Gerald Dickens performed the dramatization with just a chair, a hat stand, a candle, his top hat, and a walking stick for props. The rest of the show was brought to life with his voice, facial expression, mannerisms, and energy.

Since the story is so well known, Dickens said he didn't have to worry too much about explaining the plot.

Everyone loved the story, and a closeness and camaraderie developed in the audience as we watched a talented storyteller enact his great-great grandfather's story with love and passion.

Fortunately for me, the audience struggled to understand the actor's Cockney accent. It created dead silence voids, where an appropriate applauding should have followed a punch line.

Mr. Dickens had been making note of this, and asked if I would accompany him on stage and help the audience participation, with a few prompting gestures.

{Gulp}

Would I accompany him on stage ?

Needless to say it was the best Christmas gift I could have received, and dare say, everyone in this town, is still talking about it to this very day.......

I know I am.

;)

"To Josephine

my Warrington friend".
~ Gerald Charles Dickens.

Mid-Winter Stroll.

" The rapid nightfall of mid-December had quite beset the little villages they approached on soft feet over a first thin fall of powdery snow. Little was visible but squares of a dusky orange-red on either side of the street, where the firelight or lamplight of each cottage overflowed through the casements into the dark world without. Most of the low latticed windows were innocent of blinds, and moving from one to another, the lookers-in, so far from home themselves, watched a cat being stroked, a sleepy child picked up and huddled off to bed, or a tired man stretch and knock out his pipe on the end of a smouldering log."

Ratty and Mole, In The Village. ~ Wind in the Willows.

A Winter Idyl.

A Winter Idyl.

Winter offered a snowy cold day.

A time to make a pot of tea, and curl up with a new book.

A time to nest for one last moment.........

"Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers. "
~Charles W. Eliot

"You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend. "

~Paul Sweeney

The Old Front Porch.

I like Old.

Great Depression

worn-in (not worn-out)

favorite quilt

classic car.

I like the way Old feels.

Sheets washed a thousand times

frayed around the stitching

busting from stories.

I like the way Old sounds.

Creaky wooden floors

heaters that pop and snap

doors that slam like they really mean it!

I like the way Old looks.

chipped paint

worn corners

rust

not from neglect or carelessness, but from use.

I'd live in an Old house

with a big Old front porch.

One that heaves to tell me someone is home

and echos of little feet running across it.

I like Old.

~ Holly Glasgow

Dreaming Of Digging In The Dirt.

"Every gardener knows that under the cloak of winter lies a miracle ...
A seed waiting to sprout, a bulb opening to the light, a bud straining to unfurl.
And the anticipation nurtures our dream."

~ Barbara Winkler

Spot the Imposter.

Center Hill Dam and Lake.

Click to enlarge.

Center Hill Lake is a reservoir in middle Tennessee, located near Smithville, approximately eighteen miles southeast of our hometown.

Although we are considered landlocked, we are fortunate to have an abundance of over 60,000 stream miles and some 540,000 lake acres.

This picture was taken in 2004. After experiencing torrential rains and flooding, the decision was made to open the flood gates, an extremely rare event.

Created by means of a dam constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1948, the lake had a dual purpose: electricity production and flood control.

Center Hill Dam is 260 ft (79 m) high, and it is composed of concrete and earth structures, with 8 gates that are 50 ft (15 m) wide each.

The lake, which is 64 miles (103 km) long, covers an area of 18,220 acres (74 km²).

Center Hill Lake has a storage capacity of 762,000 acre feet (940,000,000 m²) of water.

The lake has approximately 415 miles (668 km) of shoreline, with the deepest point at 190 feet (58 m).

The lake is well-known for water recreation and fishing.


Info credit: Wikipedia

Southern Girls.

THE DIFFERENCE IF YOU MARRY A SOUTHERN GIRL

The first man married a woman from OHIO . He told her that she was to do the dishes and house cleaning. It took a couple of days, but on the third day, he came home to see a clean house and dishes washed and put away.

The second man married a woman from MICHIGAN . He gave his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning, dishes and the cooking. The first day he didn't see any results, but the next day he saw it was better. By the third day, he saw his house was clean, the dishes were done and there was a huge dinner on the table.

The third man married a girl from THE SOUTH. He ordered her to keep the house cleaned, dishes washed, lawn mowed, laundry washed, and hot meals on the table for every meal. He said the first day he didn't see anything, the second day he didn't see anything but by the third day, some of the swelling had gone down and he could see a little out of his left eye, and his arm was healed enough that he could fix himself a sandwich and load the dishwasher.

He still has some difficulty when he urinates.

Chuckle courtesy of a dear Southern lady.

An Old Wagon Wheel.

An Old Wagon Wheel
~E.D. Wilbur

Upon a fence, in a new coat of red,
Brought to use, no longer dead,
For many years it hung in a shed,
One of four, the year Gramp was wed.

It first was used, for a long, long drive,
For the honeymoon, in the year o’ five.
It took two days for them to arrive,
To that old hotel, so young and alive.

On a buggy it was, with a covered top,
Gram washed it out, with an old string mop.
It went for years, and it didn’t stop,
With an old grey mare, and a clippity clop.

The buggy was black, with wheels of white,
Dashboard of leather, and it carried a light,
After Sarah’s wedding, which lasted into the night,
The mare got them home, it must have been quite a sight.

It went for the doctor, when the kids were born ,
Covered with flags, a parade to adorn,
To fatten a goose, it went for the corn,
After all this, it was looking quite worn.

It sat so dejected, in the old churchyard,
Dear Gramp was gone, we all took it hard,
The family kept to themselves, the horse stood guard,
Tho Gram smiled through her tears, she appeared very tired.

The old grey horse, to a pasture green,
The shed for the buggy, a sad, sad scene,
In days gone by, it was sharp and clean,
But it rotted away, the wheels high on a beam.

Three wheels were broken, when the hurricane hit
That old wagon shed, and when it had quit
We put the last in the porch, where Gramp used to sit,
To remind us of him, and his rare dry wit.

Upon a fence, in a new coat of red,
Brought to use, no longer dead,
For those many years it hung in a shed,
Now the wheel is on show, on a fence, instead.

There: All Better.

After playing nurse for a week, the effort has finally paid off and the First Sergeant seems to be on the mend.
I give all the credit to a batch of homemade chicken noodle soup, it has worked it's magic.

This is the little "I need TLC " bell I had placed on the night table bedside his bed, it now goes back in it's box, and hopefully won't be needed anytime in the near future.

Your prayers and get well-wishes, were greatly appreciated, it's nice to have such caring friends.

SnowBall Fight.

The Snow Storm.

Announced by all the trumpets of the sky,

Arrives the snow, and, driving o'er the fields,

Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air

Hides hills and woods, the river, and the heaven,

And veils the farmhouse at the garden's end.

The sled and traveller stopped, the courier's feet

Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit

Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed

In a tumultuous privacy of storm.

The Snow Storm ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ferry 'Cross The Mersey.

Isn't the world of blogging just a wonderful means of meeting the most special people, that undoubtedly our paths would never cross ?

It truly is a shrinking world.

Last week, I had an unexpected visit from a local Tennessee lady and her husband. They met across an ocean via the Internet, fell in love and married.

"Mrs" is from Tennessee, "Mr" is from Liverpool, England, which happens to be my grandma's birthplace.

Having lived for six years in Liverpool, they have made the move over to Tennessee, and though this is "home" for "Mrs" it is all a new experience for "Mr".

The wonderful thing is they seem to be quite at home, wherever they hang their hat.

The part of this story that intrigues me most, is the fact that "Mrs" ran across my blog, whilst living in Liverpool, England.

She had been reading it long before she knew I lived in the same town, in Tennessee.

When we finally got to meet each other last week, it was just such a a lovely surprise.

Of course, most of our conversation was about English foods, and what we miss the most, and where we can find it.

Chocolate mostly ;)

Isn't it all so exciting .......

Picture: Royal Liver Building, Pier Head, Liverpool, England.

Double Double Toil and Trouble.

I've decided it's time to pull the rabbit out of the hat, and bring to an end, all of the hocus pocus we've endured over this past week or so.

Leaving the most mind-boggling trick 'til the last, it seems we have run out of all other options.

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake,

In the caldron boil and bake;

Eye of newt, and toe of frog,

Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,

Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,

Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,—

For a charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

Macbeth ~ William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Hearty Farmhouse Chicken Noodle Soup.
Known to cure what ails you !

Pondering.

You know how it goes.....
Everything in your life seems to be running along nicely, at it's own pace, and then out of the blue you're thrown a curve ball.

The First Sergeant has been dealing with a variety of health issues over the past few months, this weekend included time spent in the ER.

Why does it always take a "slap upside the head" to make us realize that life is not guaranteed, each day is a blessing, and to tell those you love, just how much.

Simon's Cat. Let Me In.

For all the cat lovers amongst us, a little feline frolic to share.

To turn off the sound. Scroll to bottom of the right sidebar and click the large round button on the PLAYLIST.

Oliver thanks you >^..^< Video credit: simonscat/youtube.

Gone But Never Forgotten.

You slipped away quietly into the night,
Your heart full of hope, your spirit with fight,
We questioned God why ? and shed many tears,
Your memory we'll cherish throughout all our years.

Joseph Arthur Keefe
June 4th 1930 - January 21 1989

Our dad, "One o' th' good uns".

We love and miss you with a passion.