Apologies and here's to 2010!

I am so sorry I haven't posted for a few weeks! Life has been busy, but everything is going reasonably OK in "Jane's World"
Christmas 2009 was lovely, as usual. I don't remember ever having a bad Christmas. Of course it was made 10 times better with the addition of two "Princes". Elliot is coming on leaps and bounds, he's five months old now, and we are so grateful for the good wishes and prayers from my "virtual friends" during that worrying time in September, when he had menegitis, and we came so close to losing him.

Another week!

Although I can not give credit to making this, this cake was made to celebrate my niece's partner returning home from Afghanistan. Although he was allowed home for the birth of Elliot in July and again with the worrying meningitis scare in September, he is home safe and sound. He'll be returning to his camp (in England) every so often, and only home at weekends (hopefully) in January time.

Hallowe'en Greetings

Greetings from the Boys! Hopefully their Daddy returns to England sometime next week, and has a few months break.

Apologies!

I'm so sorry I haven't updated for a while. Everyone is fine (as you can see!) and Elliot is now a whooping 15 pounder. Again, as far as we know, he has had no ill-effects from the meningitis scare, and still being a very contented baby.
Me and Mum are fine, recovering from head colds, and hopefully, my niece's partner (the boys daddy) will be home in about two weeks for a couple of months. My other niece hopefully gets her cap and gown next month!

Another week!

Sorry for neglecting the blog! Nothing much happening in "Jane's World", but Elliot is absolutely fine, he's almost eleven weeks now, and as far as we can see, no side-effects from the meningitis. He's such a pleasent baby, and his big brother never fails to make me smile, at his funny little ways! :-)

HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just a update, Elliot's home safe and sound!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The doctors will come and put the drugs into him for five days, but, although me and Mum haven't seen him, he's absolutely fine! His daddy will have to go back to Afghanistan in the next couple of days, but he is "only" there until early November. I know November is a long way away in the place he is, but it will soon pass
Me and my family really appreciate all the support - hugs to all

Elliot

My little great-nephew, Elliot, is only seven weeks old, and has had a skin irritation for about two weeks now, and although my niece has been to the doctors four times (this between moving into a new house!) the doctors did not seem concerned. Elliot was very unsettled indeed this morning, so went back to the doctors. At the moment, he's in hospital having lots of tests. The tests came back to say it is menegitis but have to find out which strain. He's got a IV in him and got antibiotics going in him. Apparently he is kicking his legs and cooing, and responding to the anti-biotics. Lets hope he'll be OK, I am sure Dad is looking over his great-grandson. Elliot and William's Dad is still out in Afghanistan until November, but being updated on Elliot's condition. So any good wishes would be much appreciated xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Another week

Not much happening in "Jane's world" lately. My niece and the boys are now settled in their new home. William is very happy with his "big boy bedroom", which is a relief. William has lived with his Mummy, Nannie and Pops, right next door to us since he was a few months old, as when as his Daddy when he was home from the army. I think we (as in me and mum, my sister and her husband) miss them more!

Another day!

Nothing much new this week. Elliot is doing well, and William absolutely adores him. My niece is hoping to move into her new home next week.

Another Week!

No cute pictures today! :-)
Everyone is fine in "Catherine/Jane's" world. My sister and her husbandcame home last weekend, off a two week cruise. Seeming Elliot was only two days old, when they left, they seen a great difference in him! Elliot is doing really well, only sleeping and drinking his milk. William absolutely adores his little brother too.
My nieces (their Mum) is hoping to move into a new house in the next couple of weeks. Luckily it is about five minutes from our house so we'll hopefully still see lots of them!

Big brother and Little brother

Little Elliot is coming along well - he is 10 days old and already 7 and a half pounds. He seems a extremely contented baby.

:-) They even have the same pajama's on! William definately loves Elliot. Their daddy returns to Afghanistan until October or November on Sunday :(

Musicals

I've never been much of a "popular" music lover. I can take or leave pop songs. But one thing I absolutely love is musicals.
I think my favourite musical - which is also a movie - is the classic 1968 Oliver! with the adorable Mark Lester as Oliver, Ron Moody (got to love the name!) as Fagin and who could forget Bill Skyes, played so scarily by Oliver Reed. I think I saw the movie when I was small, and absolutely fell in love with it, and especially with Nancy. If I was able to do any acting on stage, my dream role would have to be that one. I have seen it performed on stage but not professionally.
My other musical obsession is Joseph. I have seen it eight times on stage now - as well as having the dvd and the cd too! It is such a feel-good musical. I defy anyone to come out of Joseph without a smile on their face. I have seen quite a lot of "Josephs" now, and each seem better than the first!
I have always enjoyed Sound of Music film, and last year, I had the opportunity of going to London to see it on stage. It was outstanding. There was a reality programme, a few years ago, in England, who let "normal people" audition for Maria, and a lady called Connie Fisher got the role in the end. Me and Mum were lucky enough to get to see her perform, and she was amazing.
I love other musicals and seens lots on stage - Guys and Dolls, West Side Story and Beauty and the Beast to name a few. But there is one musical I would love to see on stage. Les Miserables is such a amazing musical. I have it on DVD, and the CD too, but unfortunately it has never been on tour near my hometown as yet. Lots of other people have jumped on the "Les Mis" band wagon because of Susan Boyle, and "Britains got Talent". She really did brilliant, and personally, i thought she should have won over the dancing troop. But never mind! There are so many great songs in it - Master of the House is such a bouncy song. But "Bring Him Home" is my favourite at the moment.

A Brand New Potter fan of the future!

Well, after much anticipating, baby Elliot was born on Monday the 20th July, in the early evening, weighing just over seven pounds. Both baby and mother are doing well, and are home already. Now the fun begins, young William getting used to this new little person in his world!

Another week

A little bit of good news this week. My niece has been studying hard at university for four years - she wants to be a accountant - and got her final exam results last week. She got a 2.2, which is excellent. She has worked hard, and she'll be graduating officially in November.
My other niece is also fine, we're still waiting for "baby number two" who should be arriving in the next few weeks. William was delighted to see us all after our four day break.
I went on a four day break with Mum, and my sister and her husband. We hardly caught any rain - quite the reverse in fact, too warm sometimes. The only unfortunate thing is that Mum caught a 24 hour bug or something, so she was out of action for a day. But it was excellent break.
There were lots of cruise ships while we were on holiday. Although my sister and her husband have been on quite a few, me and Mum haven't, although I would love to experience it one day.

There were also lots of Prom dances going on at our hotel, and there were lots of Rolls Royces and other modes of transport, bringing them. I think my favourite was the double-decker bus!

Still warm!

I am still around, just been a little bit busy lately with real life! The weather is still very warm at times, quite unusual for England in the summer. My niece finished work last week, until next March, now we wait for "Baby number two". We are hoping it will arrive before her partner comes home for ten days, from Afghanistan, so he can spend a little time with them all, but baby will come when it's ready!
Me and Mum are going for a few days next week, with my sister and her husband, to the South of England - Southampton. Seeming we're in the North West, a nice long journey on Wednesday. My sister and her husband have stayed in the same hotel before, it's supposed to be lovely. My other niece (they are twins) is coming to stay with my niece and William, so that she isn't alone :)
William is fine. He loves going to nursery three days a week.

Another Week!

The weather has been glorious this week. The hot weather usually gets too warm for me and Mum though, England isn't used to hot weather. William enjoyed playing in the swimming pool


And this is what happens when the "Aging Potion" goes wrong :)


He's climbing everywhere, and even managing a few steps all by himself

Dad

You really do not appreciate your parents, until something happens to them. Dad died exactly three years ago today. Me and Mum miss him a lot. But young William Patrick has brought so much joy into our lifes, this past year. I am sure Dad would have adored him just as much as we do!
Dad, we'll always remember you. You really were the best Dad anybody could have wished for xxx

A day at the Park

The weather in England seems to be picking up a little finally. Last weekend (well from Friday until the bank holiday Monday) me and Mum managed to get away for a break, with my sister and her husband. We had a lovely break in Cheltenham, and visited Bath and South Wales.
Yesterday, me and Mum took William to the local park.




He had great fun, except he wasn't sure about the roundabout!

Important people in my life

Today I will say why my family is so important to me :)
The most important person is obvious Mum. I still live at home with her, and she does absolutely everything - cooks, cleans, drives me where-ever I want (within reason!). She's definately my best friend. Mum is one of 13 - 7 are still alive.
Dad. Dad was great. He died almost three years ago now - Mum and I still miss him loads - but he was just a great person. Dad was one of 13, and amazingly enough, all his brothers are sisters are still alive, dotted around the world!
My sister - there's 13 years between us, but I get along really well with her. She's married and got two daughters. She always said that she wanted to move closer to me, Mum and Dad (noot that she was very far away in the first place) so that I can always live in this home. Finally, in 2006, the pefect opportunity came up - our old neighbours were going to move, and asked if they would like to live right next door to us. They moved in about four months before Dad died, and Dad was really happy about it. Christmas and Easter are great fun, as we can walk out of one door and into the next - no taxis home any more! :)
My nieces They are almost 23 now and mean a lot to me. They are Twins - one of them is studying hard, in her last year of university. The other is living at home at the moment (as in, next door) while her partner is in Afghanistan, with William.
And finally - William. He's such a good little thing, and loves playing with his Auntie! He has certainly brightened up mine and Mum's life. His middle name is Patrick, after Dad. And I am sure he will be a brilliant big brother when the new baby arrives in July :)

Books though the ages

A bit of a ramble about my favourite books, from when I was tiny until now. I think only one book has really influenced me deeply (and it will probably be no surprise when I say it is more a series than one book!)
I have always loved books. Mum and Dad always told me that I could read before I could talk - work that one out! - and I am lucky enough to have a library more or less on my doorstep (well a few minutes walk) so I have been a regular there for a good 20/30 years now.
The first set of books I can really remember is the Ladybird books - the Read-it-yourself ones, the Well-loved tales ones (and I can remember being terrified of the wolf on the front of "The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids"!) and, my personal favourite series, the Rhyming books. The Rhyming books were perfect at bedtime, to send you asleep. Mum and Dad both read to me when I was younger (maybe it is no surprise that I love audio books now!) but Dad had a way of doing the Rhyming books. My favourite was always "The Runaway", about a escaping rabbit, and even now can repeat some of it. There was also "The Tiger who came to Tea" by Judith Kerr - which is still going even now!
I read the Mr Men books too, and of course, Enid Blyton. Blyton was my constant companion. Some of the stories were similar, and of course some of them aren't very PC these days - they have been rewritten for the younger generation - but I never tired of the Famous Five etc. Even now, I have been known to pick up a few favourite ones.
In my teenage years, I read the Babysitters Club and the Sweet Valley books. They were OK (some of them!) but didn't make much of a lasting impression on me. I must have found Agatha Christie in my teenage years - probably my first Christie was "Murder is Easy", without any famous detective - and I still love Christie now (no surprise there!). No matter how many times I read "And then there were none", I always forget how well written it is.
Onto a series that I discovered late in life - "only" eight years ago in fact. That, of course, is Harry Potter. I "found" Harry totally by accident. I had heard of the series (I think only three of them were out in December 2000, if GoF was out, it was quite a new one), but I considered them "Children's books" at best, and also was frightened they would be too much like "Lord of the Rings". I had read the series (Dad was a great fan of the Hobbit in particular) but I found them too long, and some of it make so sense.
But on Boxing Day 2000, I read that Stephen Fry was going to read Philosopher's Stone on Radio 4 - complete and unabridged. Seeming I was always at a loose end on Boxing Day - the day after Christmas, full to the brim with the food from the day before - I decided to see what all the fuss was about. Even the first few sentences intrigued me. Why did the Dursleys consider themselves "normal"? What was their secret - because no one could have been so unpleasent and Vernon! I think I was totally hooked by the time Dumbledore walked down Privet Drive, and the cat turned into McGonagall. I think that first chapter - "The Boy Who Lived" - is one of the best written in the whole series.
After absolutely loving listening to it on the radio, I hurried to buy books 1 to 4 and the cassette tapes to go with them - which I have now upgraded to CDs! The Potterverse has helped me through some hard times, and also helped me make some wonderful "virtual" friends

More Ramblings

I'm still around! Life has been a little busy at the moment!
William has turned one year old last month and, of course, had a wondeful birthday party! His daddy has gone off to Afghanistan for six months, though he will be allowed home for about two weeks, in July, hopefuly when "baby number two" is due. His Mum (my niece) is managing at the moment.



Hopefully I will blog more soon :)

All about me!

A quick reminder about me and my life - quite a lot happened since Deathly Hallows was released!

For those who are new to my blog, I live at home, with my Mum, and am lucky enough to have my sister right nezt door, with her husband and one of my nieces ... and my niece's little boy, who I absolutely adore. William has brought so much joy to me and Mum. He's going to be a big brother later this year, in July. We think it's another boy, but you never know!




I shall, of course, have pictures of William and his new brother or sister. But hopefully, I will discuss the characters in the Potterverse - some well known, some just who were background characters - too.

Long time no Post!

Been a long time - nearly two years since I posted about Harry Potter etc. I am still as mad about the Potterverse as ever though, and I think Deathly Hallows was a masterpiece. I loved Beedle the Bard. I am going to have to keep the blog up!