The Last Stand Cafe'...

I've always thought I'd enjoy going on a cruise.
The North West Passage to Alaska springs to mind or touring the Mediterranean where there's lots to see.
On learning Ginger Jasper's Mum & Dad were doing the latter, I dropped a none to subtle hint that I'd love a postcard.
What I didn't expect was Carol's amazing response - a card from every port of call - in total twelve as seen here on these two collages, which don't really do them justice but...It was great receiving the cards & visually sharing their holiday cruise to so many places I'd like to visit too
And, I was very touched by their daily diligence, now have a lot to live upto on my next vacation!
Thanks also, go to my other recent postcard senders Sally & Paddy, Maggie & Mitch, and Dina.
All were gratefully recieved - not even a local postal strike stopped them getting through to me.

This is one of two photographs taken of my late Mother in 1925, she's aged 8 & wearing a green velvet dress... The professional photographs were sent to her Father, a widower, for Christmas that year.
I imagine she was hoping they might prompt him to come & fetch her home @ last.
He never did, and my Grandmother's older domineering sister Lucy Jane, who she'd been sent to live with, was no mother substitute either.
They never bonded, her Aunt, being embittered by the loss her only son of Appendicitis, aged eleven.
Mother, though, she always spoke fondly of her Uncle Arnold, the local Blacksmith & Farrier, who treated her kindly.
They shared a love of dogs, particularly Cocker spaniels which he breed.
In Mother's final weeks she had repeated sightings of a little black dog sitting @ the foot of her bed - she couldn't understand why I couldn't see him & even called out to him ''Toby, Toby come here boy!''
I wasn't able to place him, till after she died & I found several small faded snaps of her with a black Spaniel...
It was four years ago this early morning, that my Mother passed away with just me by her bedside.
The time has gone by quickly, yet the feeling of loss stays as acute as ever.
And, the memories of that awful last month of her life remain painfully vivid.
Caring for her @ home right to the bitter end, with her lucid moments few & demon bowel cancers grip total, I found difficult & deeply disturbing - distressed, I sometimes wished her gone, which is why this quote has special significance to me...
"When we lose one we love, our bitterest tears are called forth by the memory of hours when we loved not enough."
Maurice Maeterlinck - 'Wisdom and Destiny', 1898

Alieni's Monochrome Weekly is to be found HERE!

Yesterday was the final 'Open Day' @ Cowmead Allotments.
Lame I still maybe, however I wasn't going to pass on the opportunity for a few more fresh vegetables, so I limped along.
As it was such a lovely Autumn day & the gardens are a peaceful spot despite being next to a main arterial road into the city, I stayed a while & took a look around, which is when I found this weeks critter.
The Runner Beans - String Beans to my North American readers, are nearly @ the end of their season...But, this Ladybird, one of the few I've seen this year, was happy to sunbath on one...
The gardeners may take the growing of their vegitables seriously, but I do love it when they brighten their plots with a splash of colour.
No 31 had a bold sign...While most had flowers ...And, I was very happy to add bunches of colourful Statice to my basket of edible goodies...

Camera Critters host is Misty Dawn, the blog HERE
Martha is the creator & host of Color Carnival, that simply requires a colourful photo.

Another day, another barkday, today it's my 'nephew' Taffy's...He's quite the character, there's nothing he likes better than being the centre of attention, whether it's through playing - he's always game; or being fussed over - he laps that up; or by showing his feisty Welsh Terrier spirit!
I never, ever lack entertainment when I visit my friends, his humans, he makes sure of that & I love him for it.
A Very Happy 9th Barkday Taffy!

Now as famous, even as notorious as Taffy is in the world of WELTAF [Welsh Terrier & Friends] and well known in DWB [Dogs with Blogs], he is surpassed by Charlie, whose claim to world wide fame is that he belonged to the household of John F Kennedy & lived in the White House!
Charlie, was in fact JFK 's daughters Welsh Terrier.
But here's JFK & him taking a snowy walk together...And, Charlie being chased by the President of the United States, when he runs away...Taken on 12 Aug 1963, @ the Otis Air Force Base, Massachusetts, the Kennedy's are visiting the First Lady, while she is in the hospital, after giving birth to a son who lived only two days.

Another Welshie who had celebrity status due to her owner, was Gwen - she was the pet of Edward, Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII.
And, Clement Attlee, British Prime-minister between 1945-1951, owned a Welsh Terrier too, and when made the Ist Earl Attlee, he had the dog is incorporated in his coat-of-arms!
All Welsh Terrier owners I've met say once you've owned one, you never forget the pup or the breed!

Once upon a time I use to do Arts & Crafts.
One, I taught myself was Macrame - the art of tying cord into knots to form useful or decorative pieces.
It was very popular in the 1970's, which is when I probably, made this belt with it's twisted knots...My waist was obviously a lot slimmer back then as it nolonger fits!

tnchick is the long standing host & prompter of Saturday Photo Hunt.

Gazing up @ my local church's spire yesterday on the way to my doctors surgery, I noticed the Cockerel weather vane looking WSW - a good sign, against a wispy, mare tailed sky...I've never set foot inside St. John the Evangelist, despite living in it's parish for over twenty years, but I understand it's @ the Catholic [High Church] end of the Church of England tradition.
And as one who loves a good peal of bells, sadly the Spire is home to only a single one - I can hear it's dead pan 'ding-dong' from my house when being tolled for Sunday Morning Mass.

Sky Watch's blog can be found HERE!

I've only one 'niece', the fact that she is an Airedale is no neither here nor there.
She's a special girl with a lovely nature, though she does need one with the Taffster as a brother!
And, getting to know her in real life has been a pleasure.
Barkday Greetings Molly!
Hope to see you again soon.

I have a real soft spot for Wire Fox Terriers
It's in remembrance of my doggy 'Sister' & playmate Judy and because of it, I have quite a few WFT blogger friends.

Now, Doyle said straightaway upon seeing this weeks colours that BLUE & YELLOW together makes green - correct, but not quite what I meant!
I was thinking along the lines of blue skies & sunshine which inspired the combination...And, thankfully, I had taken a few images, before being confined to the house due to the Tendernitus in my heel & I found two more in my Photo Archives.
A couple of years ago, my road had a 'Street Party' to mark it's 100th anniversary [the first houses were built in 1905 the last in 1907] - it was a fun afternoon and BLUE & YELLOW balloons decorated the tables...At another event, but this time on the river, I saw this elegant gondola with her crew...The Thames Valley Constabulary's vehicles favour a BLUE &YELLOW livery - this one is outside the County Hall...The Celebration Cake Shop's Treasure Island Cake with it's BLUE sea & YELLOW sandy beach seems appropriate...And, after all my outings I always enjoy a mug of tea...
To join True Colours Thursday, all you need, is to post a photo/photographs & text, or better still both, on the specified colour of the week.
If you simply want to use the idea as a 'prompt' for a post, as I do now, with many memes, that's fine.
But, if, you'd like others including me, to visit you, please leave a comment below, so we know you are 'IN'!
For this meme only, I lift my 'Comment Moderation' to help players connect with each other.
Everyone, who to my knowledge has participated recently, is named in the TCT Roll Call in my side bar.
Next weeks colour is RED, it's berry time!

New College, that is hardly new, having been founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham, the then Bishop of Winchester & Chancellor of England, infact the college's true name is 'the St Mary College of Winchester in Oxford' but since the older college Oriel also laid claim to the name of St Mary, it was quickly shorted to [the] New College [of St Mary], but I digress!

Democritus - Ancient Greek philosopher
[460 BC - 370 BC]

As I suspected, suddenly taking my love of walking to a more serious level has caused my acute discomfort & lameness.
My doctor this morning confirmed, that I have Tendonitis @ the point where the Achilles tendon attaches to my heel bone, and the inflammation has spread hence the pain & swelling.
Apparently, it frequently affects the middle aged who dramatically change or increase their exercise regime as, as we age our tendons, become less flexible, more rigid, & more susceptible to injury, so I've done it to myself as moderation is not a word in my vocabulary.
The Doc's recommendation frozen Pea ice packs, rest & anti-inflamitory drugs!
Have to see her again on Thursday.

With many tributaries feeding into the River Isis, it's towpath has lots of small bridges.
I often stand & ponder on this particular one and watch the comings & goings @ the colleges boathouses seen on the opposite bank...
Monochrome Weekly is hosted by it's creater Ailieni, who allows my digitally tweaked B&W images.

Each weekend Angie does a post called 'Talking 'about Books'; todays includes the BBC's Book List, that asks 'How many have you read?' as the BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books - after a quick glance @ the titles I found that hard to believe, so decided to take up the challenge.

Instructions:
1) Look at the list and mark those you have read in bold.
2) Star (*) the ones you LOVE.
3) Italicize those you plan on reading.

1. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen *
2. The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien [wonder if part of it counts!]
3. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee *
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11. Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier *
16. The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch – George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell *
22. The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy [another partly read tome!]
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34. Emma – Jane Austen
35. Persuasion – Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Berniere *
39. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden *
40. Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41. Animal Farm – George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45. The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins *
46. Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy [Love the film!]
48. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50. Atonement – Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52. Dune – Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72. Dracula – Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses – James
76. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal – Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession – AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94. Watership Down – Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet – William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables – Victor Hugo [Loved the theatrical version]

Over the years I've only managed to read completely 40, not brilliant but better than six!

Goosey Goosey Gander stepped out to see me off, as I passed by his resting place on the banks of the Isis earlier this week...Camera Critters host is Misty Dawn, the blog HERE

tnchick's prompt had me @ a loss re a photo, till reaching for two wine glasses yesterday evening!

The Great Hall's spires against a predominately cloudy sky as glimpsed whilst, walking through Christ Church College's back lane...

The lazy, hazy, golden days of Summers were few & far between in my neck of the woods!

The Cathedral is blessed with an impressive GOLD High Alter...And the 'Open Day' saw the Embroiders of the Ladies Guild have their restoration work using GOLD thread out on display...The door frame of a side entrance to Brasenose Colleges is enhanced by Pan & his Pipes...While All Souls College boasts this very fine gate...

I never knew my maternal Grandmother, but today is her birthday, she was born back in 1881!
Strange as it may seem, I only learnt these facts last year!