Nostalgia~ Christmas festivities.

Well we got here! It's December and the last month of our weekly challenges. Some of us have been busy, others have had holidays and some of us had big decisions and changes in the year. But we are pretty much intact and hopefully all looking forward to a few festive days coming up!

I do hope we stay in touch next year, even if just sharing thoughts now and then. I have a feel to do a daily or weekly challenge, I have found doing a daily pic in December not so hard as writing lots. I wonder how everyone else feels...maybe twelve of us could each take on a month of daily prompts?  Or suggestions for a week of days.. colours, trees, clothes.. what do you think?  I would be happy to administer it here and set it up maybe once a week if you like?

So..Christmas nostalgia!

Let's share this week the traditions and routines you have in your family.

Are they carried on from your parents or have you started them since you were married or had children?  Is there anything you do which you really wish you could change!

A few prompts for the week if you don't know where to begin:

•  Decorations & trees
•  Shopping!!
•  Food and cooking
•  Songs and carols.. best and worst!
•  Children's nativities and school events
•  Present stories.. best and worst?!

I will be posting my daily pic during the week and hoping to add some of my stories too..

Have a lovely Christmas and a healthy and peaceful New Year .. Kathi xxx

Nostalgia..the autumn season.

Hi everyone.. as I hang my head in shame for not blogging in the last 5 weeks. Whatever came of me? Well I stayed busy at work and home, that darned new kitchen extension turned into a refurb on the old kitchen space which is almost done! It would be done if it were not being used as a workshop for the bathroom refurb which is long long overdue.. imagine a bathroom 17 years old, used lots by up to 8 people a day.. and which had a leak we did not realise.. mmm, grim.. no before pictures for sure!

But December should see me with a computer and Picasa back in place and blog central restored!

Oh and I am also away on a weeks holiday with Colin.. we plumped for Tenerife as the priority was for good weather.. and that we have.. home on Wednesday and as I write on Sunday evening I hope the G& T's are not marring my fluency.. haha.. they may even aid it!

So.. Autumn Nostalgia..what does it hold for you? Let me give you a few suggestions..

• The change in the hour.. love it or hate it ..and why?
• Do you have memories of walking ankle deep through sycamore leaves as you search for Christmas twigs?
• How did you celebrate Guy Fawkes Night?
• Or Hallowe'en, is that the Autumn highlight for you ?

Tell us about how the run from School starting in September to that Christmas rush was marked in your childhood home, or how it is now for your children..


For me the days between starting school again in September til November 5th were filled with plans for Guy Fawkes Night.  We bought fireworks from the travelling grocery shop which came to our fishing cove twice a week. We stored them in tin boxes and when allowed by our Mums we compared who had what and how we might persuade our Mums to get us a bigger and better firework!

Us children all collected papers and wood for a huge bonfire at my cousins house and his Mum would host the bonfire night and we would all bring food.. my resounding memory is of Auntie Val, the host, carrying out sausages on sticks on a tray but being chased by a Jumping Jack someone let off.. by mistake? Not so sure that was the case!

Looking forward to catching up with you all later in the week.. I so owe you all some comments and at the very least my November views!

Here's the linky:

Nostalgia~ A Giant Leap!

Well here I am again, apologising for my lack of chat and blog posting. I can't believe that a month has passed so fast. I have excuses : a trip to visit family and friends in Washington, my boy arriving home the same day as us, still more works going on indoors getting the now non-kitchen back to usability and plenty going on in our business world too.

Part of my reason for being a bit off the radar brings me to my Nostalgia prompt for this month (the list still remains 'misplaced' so I am bouncing off the current affairs for this ..

The kitchen PC has been moved whilst we re-organise and Col treated us to a Windows 8 touch-screen laptop to use there instead.  Then at work we got phone upgrades and (with eyesight not what it was) I plumped for a 'Phablet'....phone / tablet, otherwise called the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. It is the size of a thin housebrick but is just fab..I am quite an excited bunny.

All this technology got us chatting in the office last week..and here's my Nostalgia question for everyone this week:

Tell us about the biggest lifestyle changes in your lifetime..

Tell us how things changed for you from how your Mum lived.. 

It doesn't have to be technology but this is the kind of thing :

Back in my childhood we did not have a telephone of our own. There was a red phonebox about 50 feet from my house and we used to give that number to anyone who needed to contact us. With no TV and so much less noise in the house (no brrrr of the fridge, no constant rumble of a washing machine) you could hear the phone if it rang, through the quietness of the evening air,.. not unless the Archers was on the Radio.. or the Shipping News, both of which were avid listening for a market gardening / fishing family in West Cornwall.

21st Century browsing in the shops..

Fast forward 30 years and I had my first mobile phone, another five and our first computer (the NEW Windows 95 to replace that MS-DOS thing I never did have to get to grips with), then another 20 years and we find ourselves with mini computers / phones / cameras, all with touch screen that amazingly our 2 year old grandchildren expect to be touch screen, even the TV!   

Music is the same.. Vinyl 45s have given way to cassettes, CDs, mini discs and now downloads.. but who of us can remember the 8-track stereos like the one my Step-dad was so proud of in his car in the mid 70s?

We always seem to think that our parent's generation had seen the biggest changes, the growth of the motor car, planes and the increased mobility and experience this gave our families but the speed of technological advance makes me feel like we too have seen a revolution of our own...makes me feel that I have to stay on the proverbial bus or I will find myself sitting at the bus stop waiting in ten years and find the buses don't run any more!

I hope there is something we can all share; the stories of our parents getting to grips with new things, our own experiences or the questions our children ask us that show just how much things have changed...

Here's the linky thing.. love to all  Kathi xxx

Nostalgia : How things change..

Hi everyone, week 3 again, time for some Nostalgia and I have a confession to make! 

In the furore which is my building work and untidiness in our living rooms I have mislaid (no, not lost, just can't find it 'at the moment') the list of my subjects for each month, so we are winging it here..I was going to ask you about a special place or person but i think we have kind of covered that in some of the other months..

I was wondering what jobs people have had and how they have changed over the years?

What jobs did your parents do, maybe jobs which are now defunct or would be done very differently now?  How did jobs affect family life and how you grew up, what it made you want or dream for yourself?

I am sure we all have odd stories to tell..hope so!

I will try and pop in during the week with some extra thoughts, but if you would like to expand on this perhaps you could write a bit each day :

• your parents' jobs, how life has changed
• your first job, the mistakes you made!
• your best job
• the dream job you wish you had
• the worst job you ever had

.. and if you feel a little low on inspiration tell us about someone else's amazing job story, share some stories..

happy job hunting!

here's the linkie thing..

Nostalgia Challenge: Food Glorious Food.

Well isn't this weather glorious! Even with brilliant sunshine and perfect 'school holiday' climate we English still talk about the weather! I have been so elusive from blogland of late, just so much going on and all my good intentions seem to evaporate as days run into one another!  I am going to make big effort to come back to it this week, but meanwhile here is my challenge..

Early in the year when I planned a rough idea of the monthly prompts I had favourite places down for July but we have all shared stories of holidays and homes which have included places, so I am tweaking it a little, but I am sure some of you will be able to link favourite places from your past with this weeks theme...

............ tell us about your nostalgic memories of food!

Summer salads and fruit always makes me think of when I was about ten years old, my Mum would work from 8 til 1 and I would quite often make her a salad on a plate..just as she usually did for me. She always said it was so much nicer eating a salad someone else had taken the time over, instead of throwing it on a plate yourself.  Now I feel the same and this every evening Jordan made us a lovely salad we have just eaten with jacket potatoes.. thanks hun!

As a kid salad for me was very basic but now we big it up with everything from raw mushrooms to jalapeños and anchovies..and good old Heinz salad Cream has been replaced by Pizza Express dressing, or if I have some 'Sally's Hot Sauce' from Helzephron Herb Farm!

I also have horrendous memories of salad from school.. I had to hide grated carrot in mash to even begin to eat it for school dinner, it still makes me retch..!!

So come on, tell us about your memories of food from your past, here's a few examples:

• special treats
• comfort food from childhood
• school dinners!
• family recipes
• traditions 

And a few picture favourites to start you off.. 

Col's favourite Domino's Vegaroma with extra jalapeños, 

fruit for breakfast,











 and anniversary tuna nicoise salad he cooked me back in April!












Here's the linky..

Nostalgia Challenge: Off on Holiday!

So, it's Week Three again and we are almost half way through the year! I have been less bloggy than I would like, but hopefully that is good for me because lots of things are happening and I like nothing more than to be in the thick of things!

You may know that we have had a long awaited extension to our kitchen done of late and this means we haven't had a holiday in a couple of years.. oh, but I will be in that kitchen everyday!  And we will all enjoy the extra light and the family space it has made for us!

Holidays ... ahhh, do you remember when the summers were longer, the evenings were balmier and the summer holidays from school went on and on and on...

.. so tell me about them..I am sure they will be many and varied..tell us about your holiday memories from your childhood or the ones you have made for your own children..

here's a few ideas, I am sure you will have a story or two:

... school holidays when the sun shone!

...mini breaks which made maximum memories, be they good or bad..

 (here is a good memory of mine of a less than successful few days on a canal boat .. the pictures are so much better than the reality!!)

... seaside holidays and city breaks

...improvised holiday days at home 

... your first holiday / first flight / first trip without your family

...holiday treats and holiday disasters

...holidays for special events... and this one is for me this weekend.. for Christmas Lisa bought us tickets to see Robbie Williams next Tuesday in Manchester so we are leaving home early to make time to see some pals before the night...oh and sure enough, the weather forecast is for heavy rain and we are in a Stadium....watch my space for news of how that works out!

Looking forward to reading all your stories.. wallow a little in the nostalgia of it and enjoy yourselves this week everyone.. xxxxxxxxxx

Nostalgia Challenge.. Party On!

Here we are again at Week Three, I can't believe how the months are flying by. Col and I have been lucky enough to have a few odd days away and it has really made up for the lack of good weather and the chance to get the boat in the water, but it has also made the weeks just fly by!

We are very home based this week and next as we are playing host to a bunch of family and friends who are coming to us for Colin's 50th Birthday... to be honest it is his birthday early June but we wanted to celebrate over a Bank Holiday weekend to add to the sense of 'party' and also so we all had the extra time to recover!  
Zac was due to be away on his ship by now but they have kept all his cadet cohort back a month so they can be at the naming of the new 'Royal Princess' in June, so it is all working out nicely. 

So we are at my prompt for May..' Party Memories'.... tell us about some of your special party memories.. they can be a long way back to your first birthday party memories or as recent as a good party for New Year or a wedding in the past year.. all you have to do is share the memory, the laughter.. or even the tears!

• childhood birthdays
• weddings
• graduations
• college parties (!!)
• milestone celebrations .. 21st / 40th / 50th birthdays or anniversaries
• fancy dress and themed parties.

One of the best do's we had in recent years was Col's folks' Golden wedding, so many friends, family and colleagues over a few days; it was so good, we had fishing trips, cream tea afternoons and fish & chip suppers.. everything to make a memorable time..

I will pop in and out and say hello, and say sorry too for being a little elusive the past couple of months.. maybe getting my house back to normal will help me settle back to blogging more regularly.. oh and if Zac goes to sea it's a better incentive too, to keep him in touch with life at home! 

Add you links here.. party on my friends xx

Nostalgia Challenge.. Name that Tune!

Hi everyone, a nice uplifting one this week I hope. For me this follows on nicely after Anne's focus on how we deal with vulnerable days... I have just finished my offering and was listening to music as I wrote, some lovely Cat Stevens tracks and that brings me to my challenge for this week..

Tell us about the music which features in your memories..those songs which when they come on TV or the radio we are transported back to a time and place in our lives..

I was at Uni and there were a couple of songs I always think of .. Oliver's Army and Girl's Talk, oh and Crazy Little Thing called Love. 

They were 'my songs' and so much so that one day an old friend heard the tracks on TV from one of those oldies shows..

... proper feel good stuff!

 




So my Blog Friends Forever, share with us this week some of the music which has charted your journey..here are a few suggestions, not set in stone you may have your own..

• Nursery Rhymes , songs & childhood games 
• Teenage favourites.. teen heart throbs and broken hearts!
• Songs which denote an era in your life
• Love Songs,
• Special moments .. happy or sad
• Feelgood Music

... the possibilities are endless so go get your favourites head on and tell all.. K xx

I will add our linky pal below:

5 things: revelations & celebrity!

Well haven't we learnt such a lot about each other!!

I am always interested to hear about other people's lives and experiences and I am sure Karen's dropping into conversation that she was Linen Maid to the Queen Mother here!! is our blog equivalent of a tabloid scoop!  And Alison, how nice that my teacher story prompted you to say hello and thanks to your teacher too. 

Thanks everyone for your nostalgia moments, it really is lovely. I need to get by and say hi to everyone as it's been a busy week and I haven't quite been on the ball with comments.

I have some more bits to add over on my blog, but thought I would add a last Sunday prompt in case you all have a good story we should hear...

...can you tell us about your almost five minutes of fame, or your brush with a celebrity..

here's a hint of mine..

I'll see you this evening, looking forward to our quote next week..love to all..K xx

5 things... An Influential person?

Hey, I hope you are enjoying wondering what to share with us. I probably tell far too much without being asked so maybe it is harder for us chatty people to tell some unknown facts, so here's an extra prompt for your Wednesday..

...looking back, maybe to last week, last year or way back to your teens or before..

.....can you tell us about a person who was a big influence on you. 

Maybe it was someone who you knew for ages, who taught you, or lived close to you....a family member or a friend..

or maybe it was just someone you knew for a short time, something a kindly stranger said to you which changed the way you thought about something or someone .

.. or was it a famous person who shaped your teenage style.. go George Michael / Madonna / Twiggy!!

Just a thought.. I have someone, I will tell you over at my blog this evening...see you later..K x

Nostalgia Challenge: 5 things!

Hmmm, I set this up to post at 6am.. and there it is, scheduled for 1pm.. bah, humbug, computers eh!!
Hope you didn't think I forgot! ;-)

Well it's week 3 again and after two organised months I am here writing on Sunday afternoon, typical of me to be last minute, but I kind of like it, that feeling of being almost late! Maybe some of us thrive on the tension?

So, to the challenge, only loosely linked to 'Nostalgia' this week I am asking you for information or facts about you, or just plain trivia, be as deep and meaningful or frivolous as you like..

Tell us 5 things we didn't know about you!

• your birthplace
• the things you just can't leave home without
• the oldest piece of clothing in your wardrobe!

I'll be back over the next few days to give some more hints..

Happy pondering..

bye for now..Kathi xx

Affairs of the Heart 3: Love Songs.

... thanks to everyone for dropping in and sharing their Valentine's thoughts, old and new, also some lovely chat and I think there was unanimous agreement that we should be now classed as Blog Friends Forever!

I may not get back here before the end of the weekend, but then again I may!  I thought I would just add in a little extra thought..

.. why not tell us one of your favourite Love Songs..and I would just love to hear if there was a story behind it.

....as before link it into the orginal post here!

Affairs of the Heart 2: BFF

Just an additional prompt for anyone feeling like writing a little today. 

I know some of you have struggled with the initial Valentine's theme so why not tell us about your first BFF, Best Friend Forever; you know, the little girl you sat beside in your early years at school.. or the boy who held your hand in the dinner line..or even the kid you always argued with but then you were big pals in 'high school'

... maybe there was one person in particular who broke your tender heart, or who you would love to see again.. or maybe someone you are back in touch with many years later, thanks to Facebook or Freinds Reunited?

There, that should give you food for blogging!  Have a great day in this beautiful weather! K xxx

PS Ooops I have forgotten to add our Linky Friend so to save confusion, let's just link into the first day prompt xx

Nostalgia Challenge : Affairs of the Heart.

So, we are back at my Week 3 challenge and I am using 'nostalgia' as the theme, it doesn't have to be a long lost memory, it may just be from last year...or last week.

 My theme this month is going to be 'Affairs of the Heart.'

Feel free to take the prompt wherever it suits..

• maybe it will be a vintage Valentine's card in a shop or a little gift you have saved in a drawer somewhere.
• or a special little thing you do in your house that might become a traditon for your children in their future...
• it might be just your news this week which fits the theme and you can put it down for posterity..  

To start the week we must all have a little story to share about Valentine's Cards or Valentine's Day..or a romantic gesture which was a great success .. or a huge failure even!

but peek back in during the week when I will give you a few more ideas..and tell some of my stories too.....

   Kathi xxxx

January Nostalgia Challenge: Update.

Just a last-day-thank-you to everyone for such lovely support and stories this week in our Nostalgia : New Beginnings challenge. Haven't we all done well?  From following the (we-know-the-end-but-are-still-on-tenderhooks) tale of when Lynne met Peter to everyone's individual snow stories, now and then, we have really taken up the baton and run!
And of course what bigger new beginning for me than welcoming my new grand-daughter to our family, a little peach.. x

And how kind of the snow to make an appearance so most of us can offer a snow in January picture for Jen's week!  I just had to add in this very old picture of my big brother in the snow where I grew up.. it was so close to the sea it was a very unusual event, I think this was in 1962 perhaps even the late 50's.

It has been so nice too to welcome some new names and faces, Joy, Karen, Ike, Suzy, I don't think I have missed anyone... oh yes, I think April is almost there with hers! (shouts... Aprrrriiiiillllll!!!)  Tell your friends about the challenge if they like a bit of a blog and a chat and the odd bit of scrapbooking and photography thrown in.  With only one challenge a week it's not so hard to catch up..

Next week Lynne is hosting the challenge.. and I have no idea where it will take us.. cooking maybe, or a clever wordy challenge from our retired teacher?  Check in tomorrow to see what she has planned for us... and I will be back on week 3 of February with some more Nostalgia prodding and poking! ;-)

If you have done any layouts or some other way of recording the challenge feel free to post it here:


lots of love to you all..wrap up warm..it's getting chillier, even in Cornwall!

Kathi x

Nostalgia Challenge: New Beginnings...Update!

Well here I am, hosting my first Week 3 of the Lucky Snapping in 2013 challenge. .  When we first started talking about a new challenge to keep us all in touch after 365+1 I don't think we envisaged it turning out quite such a varied and exciting plan.

 

 I think the whole thing is going really nicely, people are popping in and out and the themes are bringing up some really great thoughts and moments, not to mention photos.. which when we started was what it was all about!

 

I came to blogging about five years ago as a way to pad out the information about the pictures I was scrapbooking. (well I know there is always hidden journalling, but I always have way too much to say on a little tag.. as you know!)

At the time my dear Mum had been suffering confusion and memory loss associated with health issues and I had difficulty realising that she was forgetting lots of things we had experienced together when I was young.  Having recently had a grandchild of my own I kind of felt the need to put fingers to the keyboard (as opposed to pen to paper) so that some of my own memories would be there should the family ever want to know what the day to day life was like 'when you were young Nannie'

 

Sometimes I found myself blogging about an item I had found amongst old photos, or a photo had been enlarged to really show the emotions of the day.

 

Other times a song on the radio or a comment I made had transported me right back to the days when my Mum had said the same to me.  You know, a song from your teenage years or the odd 'It'll end in tears' comment!

 

In the same way I documented more of the normal .. Sunday afternoons barbecueing, the baby in Costa with a big mug of coffee, no 2's first bath in my tiny bathroom basin..all little moments which if not documented might be less well remembered  in the future.

So, for my challenge I am going to see what it is that takes you back, or what will take you back when you look at this week's post in the future.....

• it doesn't have to be a long lost memory, it may just be from last year;
• maybe it will be a vintage postcard or a retro styled cup in a shop..
• or a special little thing you do in your house that might become a traditon for your children in their future...
• it might be just your news this week which fits the theme and you can put it down for posterity..

To make it easy we will use the term 'nostalgia' for my prompts..though as I said it may just be something happening now which people will enjoy reading or seeing in the future..

 

The term describes a sentimental longing for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations......In common, less clinical usage, nostalgia sometimes includes a general interest in past eras and their personalities and events, especially the "good old days," such as a sudden image, or remembrance of something from one's childhood. (thanks to Wikipaedia as ever)..

 

Each month will be a separate theme, loosely associated with the time of year and like the other weeks they would make a nice album, perhaps an accordian book or perhaps you could call it your 'Yearbook' ... let it grow with you, post some pictures, do some layouts, some nice journalling (hidden or otherwise) or save them up and we'll see if it lends itself to a special project... easy does it..again No Pressure..!!

 

So, for January  ...  the theme is 'New Beginnings' ..

 

I don't want to give you too many ideas on this first day, it would be nice if you made the words your own..but hints of ..

• NewYear Resolutions: successes or failures,
• New Jobs / Terms at School / Uni
• New Year Sale shopping (New Clothes!)

                                                     ...........................are the first ideas which came to my mind.

 

I will come back with some news and further suggestions as the week goes by.... I am so looking forward to what you come up with.. add your link below..

 

Good Luck everyone

 

Kathi xxxxx

PS Writing on Tuesday evening I can let you all know that my eldest daughter has just added a new baby girl to our family, her third little girl, a sweet 5lb14oz and so so cute.. Annabelle Ivy (we think!)... pic later! xxxx

So here's some more ideas..:

• a new addition to your family : remembering that 'new arrival'
• a new job perhaps : those days when you were learning the ropes!