Lost in the past

D is for Doors #AtoZChallenge

A to Z Challenge 2020

Things to be Grateful for

is for Doors

I love unusual doors so often photograph them. Here are some from England, Portugal and France.

“Be an opener of doors”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson

“There are many secret doors around us, in plain sight. We just don't take the time to find and open them.”

― Rebecca Ross, The Queen's Rising

“Windows open out onto the universe around you, but doors will take you to where your imagination lies.”

― Anthony T.Hincks

“Often doors of opportunity are opened, but few opt to walk through them.”

― Jeffrey Fry

“A very little key will open a very heavy door.”

― Charles Dickens

“I feel very adventurous. There are so many doors to be opened, and I'm not afraid to look behind them.” ― Elizabeth Taylor

C is for Cats #AtoZChallenge

A to Z Challenge 2020

Things to be Grateful For

is for CAT!

Cats Sleep Anywhere

Cats sleep anywhere, any table, any chair.

Top of piano, window-ledge, in the middle, on the edge.

Open drawer, empty shoe, anybody's lap will do.

Fitted in a cardboard box, in the cupboard with your frocks.

Anywhere! They don't care! Cats sleep anywhere.

Eleanor Farjeon (1881 - 1965)

#CatsOfTheQuarantine on Twitter has brightened up my browsing recently. Here are some of them:

B is for Books #AtoZChallenge

A to Z Challenge 2020

Things to be Grateful For

is for Books

Books are always important but even more so at present

While reading new books on my Kindle I am also rereading one of my childhood favourites Tales of the Greek Heroes by Roger Lancelyn Green

To celebrate Books here are a selection from my Pinterest Bookworld board:

“Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them.”

― Lemony Snicket

“In the end, we’ll all become stories.” – Margaret Atwood

“If you stop to think about it, you’ll have to admit that all the stories in the world consist essentially of twenty-six letters. The letters are always the same, only the arrangement varies. From letters words are formed, from words sentences, from sentences chapters, and from chapters stories.” – Michael Ende in The Neverending Story

A is for Amaryllis #AtoZChallenge

A to Z Challenge 2020

Things to be Grateful For

is for Amaryllis

A few weeks ago, I planted an amaryllis bulb. I knew it would have a beautiful flower, but the timing of that flower was just right. It came into bloom 10 days ago.

The amaryllis has a rather confusing name. Amaryllis is the common name for flowers of the genus Hippeastrum which is the name you will usually see if you wish to purchase a bulb, but it is the name amaryllis which has real significance.

The Greek name Amaryllis means “to sparkle”.

Greek mythology tells of a shy, timid nymph. Amaryllis who fell in love with Alteo, a shepherd with Hercules' strength as handsome as Apollo. This man only loved flowers. He said that he would love the woman who brought him a blossoming plant and that’s when Amaryllis dressed up in white and stood at Alteo’s door every night for 30 nights. During these visits, she pierced her heart using a golden arrow. When Alteo opened the door on the 30th night, he found a beautiful red flower that came from the blood of Amaryllis’s heart. Thus the flower symbolises beauty and love. But the Victorians also saw it as a sign of determination, strength and success, due to the plant’s height and sturdiness.

Wartime Postcards #Humour

During the second world war my mother was constantly being separated from her friends in the ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service) as they were each given different postings or went on leave so they kept in touch by sending postcards.

Mabel Lucie Atwell

Valentine cards

The postcards were sent from Dundee and Lowestoft and were received by my mother at home in Scotland or at her army billet in Oxted, Surrey or at HQ 21st Army Group in Belgium.

To read my mother's story of life in the ATS during World War Two