Showing posts with label Hilary Melton-Butcher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hilary Melton-Butcher. Show all posts

Tuesday, 13 January 2026

Tuesday's Child ...

 

Odd - today is a Tuesday … and thus all those many years ago … a child who is full of grace was born …!?!?!?

Monday's Child lyrics - as published 
in St Nicholas Magazine (1873)

Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace.
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go.
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for a living.
But the child that is born on Sabbath day,
Is bonny and blithe, good and gay.

**

'Twas on a Tuesday morning

The gas man came again …

the gas men never stop …

they'll be around for a while - 

... on, on and on ...!!


Daffodils and Narcissi



I just hope 2026 gets my health sorted out … or at least eases – everyday it's a nuisance.




I note that Damyanti (Damyantiwrites.com) is still a week ahead of me … I just hope she won't give up her blog …



I give up … I can't count – but think I'm going into my 18th year of blogging – a bit of a shock to me … but my blogging mojo has returned …


Champers all round - around here!!



Busting out the champers ... 
Thanks everyone for being here – I really enjoy the interaction with you all … here's to more ...



Damyanti's blog – latest post …


Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Friday, 13 January 2023

Sixeen years of this, while also reaching Three Quarters of a Century …

 

Well – I'm there … what to write, what to think – nothing's changed here, what to do … well easy – celebrate as and when …


Hip, Hip Hurrah! 1988 by Danish
artist Peder Severin Kroyer (1851-1909)

and so into my 16th year of blogging with all of you friends … and on a Friday the 13th … apparently there have been twelve of those in the past 3/4 century …



but in blogosphere-land – what to write … ah well … these popped up … I've no idea if any of you have come across this site StuckInABook … he (Simon) lists a Century of Books – one book for each year 1919 – 2018 …



The book for 1948 is:

'The Plague and I' by Betty Macdonald …



I had to desist looking … it was Dec 4th 2022 … but thought you'd like to know about the 100 book suggestions…



Books galore ...

However it will be my year of reading … I am definitely in the land of Tsundoku … I don't buy books I do not intend to read – but have rather more of them than I can expect to read soon – but I'm happy …



I gather surrounding ourselves with books enriches our lives as they remind us of all we don't know: makes sense to me!




That's all folks! Happy Birthday to me … while this is my Mother with her clock, when she was fund-raising in Penzance, Cornwall (probably late 1980s) …




linking you across to Annalisa's promotional tour links …


Cheers to each and everyone of you … (and now I will be catching my tail ... so see you all soon) ... 


Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Thursday, 13 January 2022

Brain Rambler - another year gone ...

 

Snowdrops - Spring bloomers

It's that time of year again … the birth of a “Saint” – albeit in the 20th century, somebody with microscopic literary intent – the birth of a blog, and reminiscences from a mere 59 years ago …


Happy Falstaff - Hilary too
true to my name

Yes – I am still 'St Hilary' Peregrinating with Respair in my heart – just like last year … or Brain Rambling on with hope that 2022 will let us back into a normal life …




January's change … this year is very unseasonal, it's relatively 'warm' and when the sun shines it is bliss for winter – especially when I remember this day 59 years ago … or those times …


I'm happy - a 
big grin!
In 1962/3 we'd had snow for two and a half weeks … it started on Boxing Day – pretty with Christmas lights up, long icicles everywhere – I next saw icicles that long in New York in 1976 in May when I was visiting.



Snowflake through microscope

It snowed, and snowed and snowed – no doubt a few other things in between … I've written four weather posts about that time (in 2013) – and this year the BBC showed film from the archives … perhaps to remind us that our lives today are not so bad.



I was at school in Oxford, a 30 mile trip on 1960s roads, but ended up being ill – perhaps a bad cold or flu – eventually due to the bad weather my parents set off in both cars … one did break down on the way home, but they'd dealt with the war's 1940s weather so knew how to cope – how many of us today would … I know I would struggle.




Walking through drifts 1963

We drove through snow drifts 20 foot high – the road in a narrow cutting, then the hedged field banked with snow, topped with a blizzarded white drift … I do remember the height … it was an amazing journey.



Once the snow stayed around in late December 1962 we co-erced our parents to help build us an igloo … it wasn't large enough to live in – but it was still there at Easter 1963!



Clock patience

Strange but true … I had a virus at the end of term and they isolated me for 10 days, before I could be collected … I played a lot of card patience, read, listened to the radio and looked at the daily newspaper where snow and flood scenes were shown …



I don't remember being ill per se – but have some minor stretch marks to remind me of those days … I've no idea what caused it – or how I caught it, seeing as I was sequestered in a girls' boarding school. Apparently I was one of 9 in the Oxford area to have 'said' virus.



Pepper Virus

Today – we're still being safe … but some meetings are going ahead … last night we had a business dinner for about 50 (socially distanced in a large room), and this morning I'll be at another group meeting … probably 8 or so … then later on I'll meet up with friends for a drink and light meal …. where there is plenty of space.




I hope that 2022 brings more light into our lives and we can put 'respair' out of our minds to enjoy life … as Bob Marley put it:


Don't forget your History

Nor your Destiny


My history is fine and you find out about my thoughts in that direction … destiny is another matter – but living life applies!


Bob Marley quote

Thanks to you all for being so supportive … into my 15th year of blogging … the years of life are toddling along – my enjoyment in blogging hasn't evaporated …




I so enjoy the friendships, the comments and the learning about different ways of life I read through your blogs – also I teach myself about so much as I post.




Overlooking Keswick, in the
Lake District


Normality will resume here – I have a number of posts to write up … and as we reach towards Spring I'll be so pleased if it stays 'warm' as the days lengthen … the blackbirds continue to sing, the blossom flourishes, and those beautiful bulbs safely appear.


Beautiful anemones - my mother's
favourite bulbs and flowers

With thanks and all the best for this coming year …




Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories


Wednesday, 13 January 2021

Peregrinations …

 

Nothing like entering the 14th year of blogging, and a few decades with a few extra years of birthdays …


 

Christmas Narcissi - Cornish style daffodils
Peregrinations of a snail-like life … but the main thing all is well – just desperately slow to get going … there’s no rush – so why stress myself … a decent post will follow soon!!

 

 

Some great friends sent me some cash to enhance my meal options … nothing like a trip to Marks and Sparks for one of their dine-in meals … good choices they had available for me.

 

Extra prawns for my salad lunch

I have plenty to gobble down for a few meals … and I’m looking forward to lunch, and to this evening!!

 



My choices … I love Mediterranean meals, rather than a salad: that I’ll have for lunch, I selected some green veg … some extra prawns for some time … and then the citron tart – one piece eaten last night! 

 

Paella


Tonight I’ll enjoy the above or some parts of them … and the King Prawns chargrilled, chicken and chorizo Paella … with Arborio, saffron infused rice, red peppers and peas …

 

 


Variety of green veg with a zingy sauce
I have some Prosecco and a decent bottle of wine – so I will slump and just enjoy myself … not too much alcohol … but something depending what I feel like …

 


I managed to 
eat one piece
last night!

So that’s the start to an interesting birthday year … what will this coming year hold for blogging and life … a conundrum to ponder, without getting agitated about the future …

 

 


A word has come through from a local group – but it’s via the great medium of tv quizzes … and is most definitely appropriate for now … and our future … 

 

‘Respair’ = fresh hope and recovery from despair … a word we need to hold close to our hearts …

 


 

Snowy lady - in Canada

Well from a damp south coast … better than many of the snow-bound ones I’ve experienced … I shall wander along my lonely path …

 

 

… I am lucky as I have an optimistic and positive approach to life … and just look forward to whenever some form of normality occurs … in the meantime – stay safe, look after yourselves, and all the very best –

 

 

Virus adapted tulip ...
so pretty!

Today is St Hilary’s Day … and features heavily in our culture, as too my life … I remain true to my name …

 

 


Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories


Wednesday, 14 March 2018

Trumpeters, Trombones and Tadpoles ...




Life here is eclectic and I live in a pull-me -push-me life-style ... not at all sure what will happen next ... but it makes for interesting memoir (in due course).
Collage of sights in Victoria



I've seen a few films ... they pop up in venues I'd expect as well as well as put on by various societies or organisations.  I do recommend Three Bill Boards in Ebbing, Missouri - it kept me engaged ... yet has still got me thinking about various aspects of life - well worth seeing.  I have another I want to write about.




Thank goodness I haven't been on the freezing east coast, or for that matter over in Siberian Europe - though I suspect the vagaries of weather will catch me next year!  Spring is springing ...


Victoria waterfront by
Edward Richardson (1864)
Things are sorting themselves out - I finally have a desk ... and so can sort my life out a little ... and hope to get a better computer sometime soon - I'm surviving, but it's not that easy.  A strong compartmentalising character resides here ... and even I am battling!


Life on 'our' farm - clearing the trees
I was briefly in Victoria last week and saw the cherry trees blossoming and must get back to spend time down there: the waterfront, which we only drove past, looks stunning ... and to see an Emily Carr exhibition at the Art Gallery.  Little Smart car and I will set out next week sometime!!


I hope also to get up the island a little way purely for research purposes ... so that's on my list for next week.


Trumpeters in full flight -
winter time

So to my 'T's ... Trumpeters - these large migratory swans, re-introduced to increase the near extinct populations of the 1930s, have been trumpeting away - they love the Comox Valley here on the Island and over on the lower mainland.


Seeing various skeins of Swans trumpeting over the farm is a delight ... perhaps not so for the farmers ... though I haven't heard ours complain - I must check.



As stated!
Trombones - bet you don't know what those are?  Took me by surprise ... as I sat looking at some paperclips I'd bought ... they were labelled 'trombones' - which is the French word.  I rather like that ... and if I find more ... I'll be increasing my French a telescopic (slide mechanism) bit ...


Frogs various

Now to Tadpoles ... the swimming pool cover is full of rain-water ... which is fine ... but now I'm told and have already heard the tadpoles come out to play ... and turn into froggies ... I can see I'll be hearing a croaking cacophony for a few weeks!



...  I hope those Tailless amphibians will enjoy lots of tasty little 'itos' - in other words mosquitoes! - and I won't get too bitten: some hope!



Some of the farming family ... 


Things are starting to come to life in the garden ... the trees are being pruned - with the hope for some better fruit, as they are fairly ancient ... some of the big trees, which died, are being dug out - so there's always activity up here ...


... the cows, I hear 'talking' occasionally - but  they enjoy their farmland in the valley below.  Suppers are delicious ... and the bar-b-qs are tantalising near!


FIL to the farmer!  My 'willing' helper!


Thankfully ... the FIL from the farm is fairly handy and helps me sort some fairly irritating challenges out ... and will fix up some mosquito screens for me ... 


... actually he's a handy-man par excellence ... has spent his life working with machinery et al.  His grand-daughter is following in her father's and grandfathers' (both) footsteps.






Chowder at the Bay
Grandson has just gone off to Swaziland with the school on an educational charity volunteer trip ... so it's been good to see their itinerary ... and though he's of an age of not saying much ... I hope to get some Africa feed-back on his return!



Down the road - Cowichan Bay


Well that's me for now ... life has its moments here ... but there's lots of opportunities - so I just need to absorb when I need to, and come back to life shortly after ... so now to get on with a few things and prepare fully for the A-Z ...




Couldn't resist these guys - now I
can see why paperclips so easily
'translate' to trombones - even
plastic ones ... good practice tools


Thanks for visiting and being so supportive ... I'm away from the Tadpoling, Trumpeting Trombones ... which I won't even attempt to translate into French in this bi-lingual country ...


Hilary Melton-Butcher
Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Friday, 12 January 2018

Seventy - I might be ... but I still need to title the post!



The year end approaches ... the end of 9 years of blogging and as my father's brother would say you're into your 8th decade ... each zero type birthday - this was somewhat galling!  Sadly always true ... well not eighth, but 5th, 6th - he unfortunately didn't make my 7th decade era ... 



Note screw-top on the Prosecco:
ease of opening for me - I don't like bangs
and pops of balloons or champagne corks! 


As Teresa mentioned in her comment on my previous post ... as a child did you ever think you'd see 2000 AD (must remember the AD bit!) ... that almost seems BC to me: Before Child ... it was so long ago.



I do remember thinking forward about 37 years ... taking me to 50 + 2 to get to the year 2000 ... and that was a million years ahead - how quickly they go ... and now I'm 18 years beyond and turning a mere 70.



Main route in - goes down to
Trans Canada Highway before Christmas



Enough of that ... you'll have surmised that life here is not quite the way I hoped it would be ... I'm working on it - and won't go into the details ... for now I'm here and looking to be for up to two years - then back to Little Britain.  



Surmise is a better descriptive word ... leaves the reasons for uncertainty be - rather than describe them ... and you might want to hear, but for now you won't.





2018 after a very dead tree was felled before it
completely blocked the back driveway in ... we used the
field in the snow to go in and out ... 


I've been reading the book "Vancouver" - which is a fascinating tome ... tome it is - being all of 800 pages ... but talk about a history lesson ... it encompasses life from the last survivor of a Siberian peoples, Beringia (Bering Land Bridge: connecting Russia and the Americas) and human population as it moved and subsequently settled here.  




It's making me think ... and also giving me food for thought - I know so little about this part of the world ... so my education is being expanded ...





The cards are appropriate ... Remember Age is All in the Mind (one brother)... 70 years Young ... why my other brother decided to send me a mouse one I've no idea - as that is one of my banes here ... rather too many of them, along with rats, raccoons and squirrels - all in and around the house ... we are slowly discouraging them from being around ... !!  




Zebra stripes in
the African Savannah
colouring
The Exceat barns are in a picturesque part of the Sussex coast between Eastbourne and Seaford - near where friends and my brother lives.  Lovely Jewel Flowers - my ideal colours ... from great South African-English friends.


Savanna Cider from Africa given as a Christmas present ... and I'm happily enjoying Prosecco when the opportunity arises ... in Canada ... 



That's it ... life at 70 - not quite what I expected when I came over here - farm life yes, the rest no ... still ne-er mind ... life will improve ...




Whether it's my birthday anywhere yet - yes probably Aussie land where I've been 70 for over eight hours now! as I type, then the 13th will wend its way around this beautiful earth ... remember also it is St Hilary's Day ... 



So here's to me tomorrow ... being 70, tenth blogversary ... and generally celebrating life ahead ... I'm good (all being well) for another decade or two ... 



Hilary Melton-Butcher
Positive Letters Inspirational Stories