Artist of the Week - James Horner

Something a bit more unusual than the normal Artist of the Week when I pick a Band or an solo Artist and someone that I admire for there talent as a composer of film music. This weeks Artist of the week is the composer James Horner.

I came across his music really because of the film Breaveheart although I must have heard his music in other films many times over. Many might know of him from the films Titanic, A Beautiful Mind or even from Star Trek. The number of scores he has written for films is countless. In the days before mp3 people would put on the internet midi files of his music which people could download and play through the computer or playback through keyboards. Midi files were the data light versions of the mp3's of today. All the same there is something hunting and memorable about the music he composes and I have picked three tracks here that I feel reflect that, but these are just three of many.

James Horner was born in America in 1953 and he is a composer, orchestrator and conductor of orchestral and film music. He is noted for the integration of choral and electronic elements as you will here from the examples of his music in this post. He has now been working for over three decades and has scored over 100 films, with his score for 1997 film Titanic being the best selling orchestral film soundtrack of all time. He has received two Academy awards, and a total of 10 Oscar nominations and in addition to this he has won numerous other awards, including the Golden Globe Award and the Grammy Award. He started playing piano at the age of five and early years were spent in London, where he attended the Royal College of Music, before moving back to the America to continue his studies. Eventually he broke in to the film music business with the score of the 1979 film, The Lady in Red and within three years he was starting to compose music for major Hollywood releases. He has never faltered in the last 30 years producing one impressive score after another. He has to be one of the great film music composers of modern times.

This is not the sort of music I might listen to in a car, especially during the day but I do have many varied musical tastes and about the only music I don't like is opera and some songs from the past that get over played on the radio occasionally, mainly on stations like BBC Radio Two. Although I won't have it playing on the CD on the way to work, I do have a lot of work to do this week and I can see myself dipping into some of his music as I do all the preparation for the course I will be doing this half term. I hope you enjoy the change and it's back to normal next week.

Something Different

This week I have a lot of work to do and instead of the normal mix of posts I will be theming the blog for just one week. After this week when things have settled down into a rhythm then the blog can return to normal. The theme for this week is film or movies if you are from the other side of the big pond. 

During the week you might notice post appear out of order and things being added to posts. For example I will add a list to this post towards the end of the week of my favourite films. All the posts are planned all I have to do is write them as time allows. Of course the family posts will be there as always and thing should have quietened down by the end of the week. 

Work Work Work

Work is the order of the day and did I get anything done today, well no. It was just one of those days that sailed by. I didn't even get to finish yesterdays blog entry. Oh well there is always tomorrow.

The problem with "there is always tomorrows" is what happens when there are no tomorrows left. Then what do you? It is no good playing games when there are things to get on with that need doing or things that need sorting. Somethings are to important to leave to tomorrow. Nothing gets done on it's own. You have to work at it however hard it is and from this you get your rewards. You have to keep going until you accomplish your task then you can rest and have fun while feeling the rewards of your labour. Thankfully at least for work I had to do today I have another day to do, but for somethings in life it better to do them in the moment rather than sitting around and doing nothing. The approach of doing nothing gets you nowhere. Waiting for another day gets nothing done about anything and at worse can make you rush things and then make mistakes.

So no sitting around waiting for things to happen and work to get done. Take the bull by the horns make things happen. That is the best approach to have and never give up.

Friday at Home

It had seemed like a long time coming after missing out on Tuesday but it is Friday again and that means Lucy is coming to visit for the day. It is strange how you get use to the days you see your children when you are put in the situation I am in. It seems like they define the week for you and become markers, just like people look forward to the weekends. May be some people would say they shouldn't but if you have strong family values then that is what happens. 

With Emily and Catherine away the day started later than normal. There was no school run to get up for so there was the chance to lay in bed until well after nine. I had arranged to pick up Lucy to allow for this luxury so when I found a text asking to pick up Lucy early I was rushing around getting ready and quick having a coffee before heading into Oakham to the railway station. It was there that I found Lucy's mummy and her sister, Mary, waiting for me just outside the the station in the car park. Once Lucy saw me she started marching towards the car. I was delighted to see Lucy and walked her back to the car after sorting out a pick up time as her mummy rushed off to get the train along the platform.

When we got home, after chatting all the way, we were welcomed by George who was almost as pleased to see her as me. He was dancing on his hind legs and wasn't going to let her in without being fussed first. As I put the kettle on Lucy said she wanted a tea, a nice hot drink to warm her up as she put it. It was rather sweet the way she said it with such confidence. So with drinks made we went into the living room to play and drink our drinks. 

Lucy started where she had left off after drink and headed straight for her tricycle and she was soon riding it around the house and playing games along the way. Every so often she would come and see me to be refuelled and have her tyres pumped up. She was having a grand time and so was I. It was lovely to see she was alright after all the concerns I had for her earlier in the week. 

We played lots of games as the afternoon went on. She was in such fine form. You wouldn't have known she was so poorly on Tuesday that her mummy had felt she should stay with her. Although it didn't make up for having on my own Tuesday it was nice to get all the cuddles I had missed out on when we were playing on the floor together. Time seemed to pass very quickly and soon I found myself cooking dinner for Lucy and finished off washing her clothes she had on in nursery.

After dinner we both went upstairs to play on the keyboard. I moved it in to her bedroom so she could play with it without messing with Emily and Catherine's things. She looked really cool with the headphones on and had tons of fun pressing the keys and changing the instruments. It is nice to see her experimenting with sounds and music even if she doesn't have a clue about what she is doing. 

All to soon it was time for her to go back to Oakham to drop off at her mummy's. On the way she was telling me that she wanted me to pick her up from nursery, it was so funny as well as lovely to have her giving me instructions. Soon we were in Oakham and she was giving me a massive hug before disappearing through the door for another few days.

As soon as I got home we had head out again and travel up the A1 to get Emily and Catherine from their mum and bring them home. It was so nice to see them. It felt like that they had been away for an age. I guess you just get use to them being about and helping out as they do. 

One thing that is lovely about living in the country is never knowing what you might find in the garden, be it the pair of owls in the tree that live in the village or the occasional hedgehog. Tonights visitor was a common frog who surprised everyone by lucking by the backdoor in a pile of leaves when we go home. It had decided to hide there rather than cross the lighted part of the patio and it wasn't until we turned the lights off that he moved away home the house and disappeared into the undergrowth. 

Getting back rather late they soon Emily and Catherine had to head to bed and there stories of their antics will have to wait for another day. Can't wait hear what they have been up to.

It was lovely to have Lucy for the day again without Nursery getting in the way, but all the same it is good she goes and plays with other children of her age. I also feel it makes them more independent. She will make friends there that she will have until she leaves year six and maybe beyond. As for Emily and Catherine it was so good to see them. I really miss them when they are away, but I know how important it is for them o see their mum. 

A Correct Decision

Credit to the council for making the right decision for once despite the lobbying of a well known supermarket. The council on Tuesday night turned down a planning application by the supermarket chain Sainsbury's to open a supermarket as part of the proposed Hawksmead eco-disaster to the north west of Oakham.

There really no need for another supermarket in Oakham at the moment, especially one so big and all the problems it will cause in terms of increased traffic and the pollution that will bring to our lovely county. We have lived with the two supermarkets we have had in Oakham for many years and they fulfil our needs combined with the local shops in the high street and with online shopping there isn't even the need to travel to the surrounding cities any more. 

Many people claim that Sainsbury's would offer competition to Tesco's but this is unfounded. In fact they would competing against the CoOp and not Tesco's. What many people think is that supermarkets locally compete against each other and that having two major supermarkets in the town would keep the cost of things down but this is supermarket propaganda. Supermarkets compete and set prices regionally if not nationally. The Tesco's in Melton for example is not cheaper than the one in Oakham despite the more supermarkets in the area. In fact going out the region to Nottingham the Tesco's there are more expensive than the one in Oakham where the competition is even greater. So have more supermarkets doesn't mean lower prices at all.

I agree that another petrol station run by a supermarket might take a penny off the price of petrol, but given the fact traffic is light to medium around the county we do enjoy the benefit of not wasting petrol sitting in queues of traffic. The question is it worth a penny, when we have two petrol stations in the town that cater for our needs as it is. Is it really going to save us that much a year in the running costs of our cars given the other increases in motoring costs recently all caused by the Banking crisis and World events.

Assuming the Hawksmead eco-disaster, which I oppose, does go ahead as planned, it is still not clear we need a supermarket built on a green field site to add to shameful destruction of green field land that this development will bring to the county and the eco nightmare that will result. There is the brown field land available in the area and this should clearly be used before any green field land is even considered. This is both true of the Hawksmead eco-disaster and Sainsbury's plans to build a supermarket. For example it might be possible to save the village of Barleythorpe by using the land at former Ashwell prison for some for some the planned housing of the Hawksmead eco-disaster and provide a buffer around the village. I might not like the idea of the Waitrose development but at least in it's favour it is built on a brown field site.

The thing is that since all these plans were thought up the economic conditions in the county have changed dramatically. The whole development and the plan that is driving it needs to be considered in the light of what is happening to the area now. It should at least be put on hold or scaled down until things are more certain in the local economy.

The one thing I think people haven't really thought of, even leaving the environmental arguments aside, is what this Hawksmead eco-disaster will do to the economy of the county at the moment. Just looking at one measure of personal wealth, house prices, these will be driven down by the flood of new houses on the market. Then there is the employment question as to if there is enough growth nationally or locally to provide jobs that the people moving into the area will need when the local economy is already shrinking due to cuts in council spending and the loss of two major employers. Shouldn't we be stabilising the local economy and finding jobs for the people already out of work before we look to growth from outside the county. 

On Tuesday night the council for once made the correct choice. I just hope they can now look at all their plans before it is to late for the county. They really need to think hard about the Hawksmead eco-disaster and the problems it will cause and not the money they will get from the government for letting these eco terrorists build these house and spoil Rutland. I have seen some of the figures and we all know that greed, the problem that caused our problems now because of the Banks, is  driving factor behind Hawksmead eco-disaster, but we don't have to be greedy and we should all look at the big picture before supporting the developers plan. The money might be nice now but in twenty years time the legacy of the development will be a nightmare for our children. We should let the developers blind us with there polished presentations and promises of cash, what we should be doing is looking at preserving what makes Rutland one of the most beautiful places in England.

It is now important we keep the pressure on these people to stick to the decision they made on Tuesday evening. The Sainsbury's corporate machine won't let their plans die without a fight and we the people need to fight back. They have all ready been instructing people of Rutland write to the following people to express disappointment at turning down their plans on their website. The people that oppose it also need to do the same to the same to counteract this move.

Planning Officer

Patrick Gear - pgear@rutland.gov.uk - quote ref no 10/00178/FUL

Councillors for Oakham

Jeffrey Dale - jdale@rutland.gov.uk

Vijay Dighe - vdighe@rutland.gov.uk

Richard Gale - rgale@rutland.gov.uk

Trevor Lovell - tlovell@rutland.gov.uk

Mark Wells - mwells@rutland.gov.uk

Gene Plews - gplews@rutland.gov.uk

Peter Jones - pjones@rutland.gov.uk

Heather Wells: hwells@rutland.gov.uk

Councillor for Langham

Nicholas Wainwright - nwainwright@rutland.gov.uk

The Rutland Times

The Editor - rutland.editorial@jpress.co.uk

Just write a letter to these people and the newpaper showing that the local community is against the plans and stop the Sainsbury's corporate machine adding to the Hawksmead eco-disaster. You never know if we encourage them to stick to their decision we might be able to get them to revisit the scale of the Hawksmead eco-disaster and the affect it will have on Rutland and the surrounding area's.

Keep Rutland Beautiful

Artist of the Week - Emmett Tinley

A bit later than usual this week, welcome to this weeks Artist of the Week the slot. This week it is the turn of an Artist that has appeared on the blog in an earlier post. That artist is Emmett Tinley.

If you remember from the previous I discovered the music of Emmett Tinley when I discovered him through Colin Devlin. Emmett had given Colin some slots at one of his concerts and I thought if he rates Colin he can't be bad himself and listened to his work. Since the his music has grown on me.

Emmett is was born Chicago, but was raised in Ireland, and is often refereed to as a Irish Singer song writer because of where he grew up. In fact he more of an international artist having travelled extensively and lived in a number of places, including Amsterdam, Dublin and Arhus and so culturally his influences  are varied. He acknowledges this himself and has said that some the cites that have shaped his song writing most include Paris, New York and Copenhagen. He was one of the founding members of the critically acclaimed band The Pray Boat before lunching his solo career after eleven years with the band with the release of his first album, Attic Faith. Attic Faith has received excellent reviews and his music was described as 'beautifully crafted', 'truly sublime' and 'like hot chocolate on a winter's day.

Although I would listen his music in the later part of the day it will fit when I doing most of my driving this week. I hope you manage to find some time in the evening to listen to his music when the hustle and bustle of the day is done and you can relax and enjoy his lovely voice. Lets hope that Attic Faith is not his only solo album and they many more to come from this talented artist.

The Day that Wasn't

Today I was going to have a day with little Lucy on her own. I had been looking forward to it for a while, but it wasn't to be. Lucy has a cough and although she has been here with worse colds and bug she wantedi to look after her. That is fair enough but I want to do that too and can do it too. She would have been fine and could have come for a few hours. It wasn' t like she had a temprature or anything. After all I have seen Emily and Catherine through worse who have lived with me for over nine years. I hope Lucy is alright and I at least get included when it comes to things that affect her life. I never wanted this for any of my children.

The Morning After

It was three o'clcok in the morning when Lucy's cough had quietened down to something I felt happy with. Although she fell  asleep soon after she was sick the second time I didn't want to be sleeping myself until I knew she was alright. I didn't like her the idea of her being sick and me not being instantly there for her, or her being sick while she was asleep and me not knowing about it. I sat downstairs so I could hear her and quietly played The Sims on one of the old computers.

As you can imagine having not got to sleep late herself, Lucy didn't rise to late and for that I was thankful because at least it gave me a few extra hours sleep too. When she woke her cough sounded better than it had been overnight. It was like it had peeked and she was doing well coping with it. I check her temperature and she was fine and she seemed in good sprits and full of energy. It just seemed to be annoying her more than anything. 

The first thing she asked for was her breakfast which I was think is a good sign. I know with Emily and Catherine when they are ill the last thing they want first thing is food. Lucy, however was clearly hungry and finished all her breakfast while I got on with putting on the first of two loads of washing I had to do after the events of the night.

When I sat down eventually with a coffee we both started playing shops together. Thankfully her cough sounded a lot better than it did in the night and she had stopped feeling sick. We had a grand time and by the time Emily and Catherine got up she was zooming around on her tricycle like nothing had ever happened. You would have never know accept for the occasional cough and the sound of the washing machine washing all the dirty bedclothes that anything was wrong with her.

The girls played until lunch and I finished off all the washing got it dried and cooked a hot meal for them all. It was all rather a rush. Lucy was going back to her mummies at one and Emily and  Catherine were meeting these at just after two. I would have managed it but Lucy didn't want to go back to Oakham and she was crying under the table. Eventually we got her out and dressed in her clean clothes to go home in. The problem was she fell as she was going to the car and the clothes weren't clean any more. She cried and I gave her big hug until she stopped and we were on our way.

As always we chatted on the way and she was excited about coming tomorrow. It was how we got her out from under the table. As we got to her mummies house I told her to be a good girl for her mummy and she wanted a big hug and kiss before I left her. It was then we heard a dog bark from inside the house and when the door opened Kiz's sister was there with her little daughter and I guess her newly born son too. It was Sammie the dog who was by door that barked. Lucy just matched in to house as usual to handout her sweets as I explained about her knees. I wished I had some extra sweets for the other children but I wasn't expecting them to be there. I was hoping to see Kiz to tell her about her cough and arrange a time for tomorrow but that had to be done later by text, but it was nice to see her sister who looked well.

With Lucy gone all that remained to do was to take Emily and Catherine to there mum. It quite a contrast in drop off between the girls. I sat down with a coffee and talked to Abigail about the girls before I left, unlike the other drop off which in the past has had a door closed on me before I finish speaking. Thankfully that has stopped but it seems everything has to be done by text. Not really the way to bring up a child together.

Anyway, I can't wait to see Lucy tomorrow I have quite a lot planned for us to do together including some cooking and drawing as well as playing games. It has been along time since we have been alone together for the day. It's going to be great. I hope her cough doesn't keep her mummy up and she isn't sick again. Lets hope she is over the worse of it for tomorrow is going to be fun.

Oh Well...

Not a good end to the day. Lucy managed to damage my MacBook Screen by accident. I didn't notice it until the screen went dark and now I going to have to find hundreds of pounds for a replacement. Haven't got a clue where I will find the money from. It could take months to get that sort of money together. It was the last thing I needed. But it didn't end there....

The day thankfully didn't start as badly as it ended. In fact it was all very lovely and peacefully and Lucy was in fine form when she woke up. She was full of cuddles and hugs, which is always rather lovely. She hadn't forgotten about Wallace and Gromitt either and wanted to watch the "The Wrong Trousers" while she had her breakfast. It is amazing she just sits there and watches them and doesn't move a muscle. 

After she had finished at the table she came over to me after switching the TV on for a cuddle to watch a little bit of Cbeebies before we started playing. Out came the Peppa Pig snakes and ladders game followed by the her toy shop. We couldn't find any pennies around the house and I didn't have any in my pockets but somehow she had managed to find some of the plastic cards I hardly use on the old DVD rack and she had me using them to pay for all the things she was selling. It funny how they can associate plastic as money, but I guess it is the way of the modern world.

After we finished playing shops Lucy started saying she was hungry again so I started cooking a quick lunch for us both that we ate together at the table. I love the way they think your food is more interesting than their own even if it the same food. She was true to her word about being hungry when she had finished her plate was empty and she had polished of some of mine too.

After lunch we both went upstairs to sort out Lucy's bedroom a bit. Recently Emily and Catherine mum had given us some new books and they adding to Lucy's collection. Problem was we needed to move things around so we had the space for them. Lucy was really helpful passing the books and helping and soon the job was done and she started playing with her dolls house. 

The first of the girls to return was Emily and she was full everything that she had been doing, telling us all about the movies she had been watching and the things she had gotten up to. Lucy was delighted to have her back and soon they were upstairs and Emily was doing some face painting with her. By the time they had finished they had used up all the remaining face paint they had, but they had a grand time playing around with it and they were both soon cleaned up and back to normal.

It wasn't until late afternoon that Catherine came back from her friends in the village, once again Lucy was delighted to see her. Unlike Emily she is never full of herself and you have to extract information from her, but by all accounts she had a lovely time to and made some ginger biscuits  which Lucy loved. I tried one myself and they were rather good. Soon they were both playing together as I made dinner and making up for lost time.

It was after dinner that it all started going wrong. It was shortly before Lucy's bedtime and Catherine and Lucy had just finished playing a game of doggies, where Lucy is the dog and Catherine was taking her around the house for walkies and things. Lucy accidentally spun round with the lead, quite quickly, and the metal end of the lead smashed into the screen of the MacBook, The was a loud bang and I noticed when the screen when dark she had managed to crack the screen. It was the last thing I wanted, an official Apple repair and replacement screen is in the region of three hundred and fifty pounds and even a unofficial repair will cost me hundreds. I haven't got a clue where I'm going to get the money from but it will have to be replaced. I need the computer for work and with it to do preparation I going to be really stuck. It was the last thing I needed financially. we don't have any money to start with and spending it on the computer means we will all have to go without in someway. Thankfully it can still be used at the moment so there is some time to save, but I fear if it get any worse that will be that. I wasn't cross with Lucy I just showed her what she had down and tried to explain the best you can to a three year old why the have to be careful and what not being careful means. I think she understood and kept looking at the crack and saying sorry and "Daddy fix it".

It just after that we took her up for her bath, read her some stories and gave her cuddles and kisses from all she knows. She was tired but she went down like a dream. She looks so beautiful when she is asleep and I checked her fifteen minutes after I put down and she was sound asleep.

Lucy had been coughing all day and it had got worse as the day went on and it had started the day before as a cold. We didn't think anything of it because she didn't seem bothered by it at all and she didn't have a temperature, just a runny nose and a dry cough. Not once did she seem tired or out of breath or anything.

She had been in bed about half an hour before she shouted from her room. She had been sick. It seemed the cough that had been developing all day had got a lot worse as she tried to sleep. What she was doing was over coughing until the point she was sick. It was almost like she was making herself sick because she was panicking over the fact that the fluid from her nose was going down the back of her throat. The more she sniffed the more she coughed and once she could feel it in her throat she coughed even more until at first the fluid from her nose came up to be followed by her dinner. I managed to clam her and get her off to sleep again, but only for a three or four hours and then she woke coughing again and made herself sick again. I don't think have in the dummy helped as it stopped her breathing though her mouth, but she wouldn't give it up.

Poor lucy was coughing until the early hours and I didn't to sleep to late listening to her to make sure she wasn't going to be sick again. Thankfully she wasn't and I drifted off to sleep at about three in the morning.

Hopefully as I finish this post the coughing will stop and Lucy will get a comfortable nights sleep in the end. I do feel for her. All I want is for her to be well. Accidents happen, and although fixing the computer will cost me dear, she is far more important than anything else as is any of the girls. 

Wet Saturday

It would have been great it had not been raining and we had some of the lovely weather we have had odd glimpses of over the last week, but it wasn't to be, it rained nearly all day. It was the last thing I wanted but you just have to get on with things and make the most of it.

Lucy was first to wake up and I heard her calling from her bedroom. I went in to be greeted by a lovely smile as she gathered her juice bottle and soft toys and headed with me downstairs into the living room. Soon we were snuggled in chair together and watching CBeebies on the television, while we both woke up. 

With no immediate sign of Catherine getting up we had breakfast without her at the table, before Lucy headed in to the family room to play with her toys. At one point she was playing shops with George and you could hear asking him what he wanted to buy. He brought all kinds of strange things for a dog. This and her other games went on for a while until Catherine finally got up and joined her in the family room with a bowl of cereal in her hand. 

It wasn't long before they both decided that it would be nice to come and play around me in the living room again before settling down together to watch some television while they laid on the carpet. Eventually Emily surfaced from her bed. She really is a the practicing teenager. It is a strange age that Emily is at. Sometimes she seems so grown up and then at other times you can see she still has a long way to go. All the same is turning out to be a lovely person.

Just as I was making lunch Charlie popped in to see Emily. Lucy really loves Charlie and was delighted to see her and she went off with the rest of them into the family room to play while I got on with the cooking. All I could hear was the excited voices of children laughing and playing.

After lunch we headed out to Ashwell with Emily, Catherine, Lucy and Charlie to drop Emily off at her friends for a sleep over before heading into Oakham to do some shopping. Catherine, Lucy and Charlie had a supper time in the shops. They went off down all the aisles together looking at the things to buy and just generally having fun. At one point I lost them but I heard them giggling in one of the nearby aisles so I knew they were safe. After we finished shopping we dropped Charlie back off at her house before we went home to wait for Catherine's friend to call round.

While I put the shopping away Catherine played with Lucy on the living room floor. The started out playing shops and moved on to some board games before sitting down together to watch a little bit of television until Catherine's friend arrived to take Catherine to a sleep over at her house. As soon Lucy saw Cassandra she went predictably shy and hid behind me, peeking out from time to time to see what was going on.

With Catherine gone there was just me and Lucy in the house to tomorrow afternoon. We had a grand time playing until dinner time and when it came to making dinner Lucy did what she could to help, but to keep her out of the way while things heated up I put Wallace and Gromitt on the computer that was on the dinning room table. She loved it and she was soon enthralled by the two characters and their adventures on the moon.

After dinner she wanted to watch some more of the episodes on the DVD and soon she was equally taken by the story of the mechanical trousers and the penguin thief. I think she is turning in to a real Wallace and Gromitt fan. She loves them and before her bath watched them go to the moon again. 

With her bath out of the way, hair washed and teeth cleaned she was more than ready to go to bed. She even got her own night dress on after I dried her off and got in bed and snuggled herself down. She was more than happy just have the one story while she drank her juice and after her kisses and cuddles from everyone she fell sound asleep.

It was lovely have them altogether in the morning and equally lovely have some special time with Lucy on my own in the afternoon. I hope that Emily and Catherine have a grand time at their sleep overs and I can't wait to hear all about it when they get home tomorrow.

Just a Quote

We all have some favourite quotes that we like in our lives, this is one I really like and I wish I could live up to it all the time. So it is:

“Love is always patient and kind; it is never jealous, love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offense, and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes. Love does not come to an end.”

All you can do is try to meet the sentiments and ideals in such quotes while knowing we are all human and we do wrong, but may be that is were the words "Love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins", i.e knowing that other people aren't perfect either. I have always loved the end of the quote that "Love does not come to an end.". I believe that is true, but love can changeover time.

There is no thing such as perfect unchanging love that can endure a life time. The modern world doesn't allow us to do that with the pressures it presents to us or those we have had to endure. Times are often hard and we have to work through them and never give up. Compromises and understanding are the keys, while being entrenched will get us nowhere.

The key is loving yourself and not being dependent on others for validating your existence. You need to be able to do that for yourself. Sometimes we need help to be able to love ourselves because of our past experiences. That help is worth seeking if you feel so a shamed and guilty that you feel you have no place in the world. You have to find your place in the world within yourself and not from outside yourself. Being angry with those that truly love you will never help make you happy, nor will pretending to the world all is well when things are eating you up. Like it the quote say's love "delights in the truth" hiding behind a smoke screen won't help you love, for those closest to you that care will know the truth.

Now I didn't expect to write so much about a simple and old quote, but the values expressed in it are what we should aspire to and achieve if we can. True love never dies it just evolves to meet the circumstances of the moment If you love someone then you are always there for them no matter what, though the bad times and the good, it has no conditions.

Back to Normal

It was one of those misty starts you get at this time of year. The air was cold and damp making it feel much colder than it really was and that is how the day stayed. The sun did manage burn off a little of the mist for a while but as soon as the water on the ground heated up a little the mist returned. At least you know that winter is coming to an end when the first of the flowers appear in the garden. The snow drops are out and unlike last year they haven't had to break through a layer of snow and the daffodils are pushing their heads above the top soil.

The morning as always started with getting Catherine and Emily ready and off to school for the last time before half term. They are really looking forward to a week off of school and they are going to see their mum in Leeds for a lot of the holiday. They go away on Monday and coming back on Friday. Although next weekend would be the one they spend with there mum they are having their time with her mid week so that Emily can go ice skating with her friend next Saturday. 

After I dropped off Emily at school in Oakham I headed straight off to Peterborough to Toy r Us to get a car seat for Lucy that I had reserved the night before. The reason for going all that way is because they had a group one to three seat on special offer. Having a group one seat means it still has the five point seat belt that Lucy can use for next three months or so and offers that extra protection in case of an accident before she reaches the weight to move up to a group two seat. Hopefully the seat will last her until she is ten or eleven when she should be the correct hight to use a adult seat. It's a good seat and well worth the money even if it means that we will have to watch the spending for the rest of the week. Buying anything like this cuts in to a tight budget. 

When I got Lucy she was delighted that she was coming home again and she loved her seat. I was happy too because I missed having her around the house over the last week or so. This was made better because she is staying for three nights in a row, which with the Tuesday means I get to see her five days in a row. It was interesting that the quite moods of late gone and Lucy her happy self and was soon chatting away as adjusted the car seat so that it right for her. It was nice to see her happy again after the last two times I had picked her up from nursery. Especially last time when she burst in to tears for no reason at all.

Before we got home we popped to the supermarket for some supplies for lunch and dinner. We zoomed around having a giggle and soon filled the trolly with all the food we need and some of the essentials we were running low on, paid and we were on our way again. Lucy was still excited by her seat as she got back into and was very careful to keep it clean and asked me to clean her hands from the small sweet she chosen and eaten while we were in the supermarket.

When we got home we got a lovely welcome from George he was so pleased to see Lucy. His tail was wagging and he was dancing on his back legs. He is such a lovely dog and Lucy is his partner in crime. Soon Lucy head off to her bedroom to look for her toys and play with her dolls house and I put on some lunch on for the pair of us and had a cup of coffee. It was nice to have her back and calling my name. I miss any of the girls when they are not here, they make the house come alive with joy.

After we ate lunch together we got on with playing games and having fun until it was time to fetch Emily from school in Oakham. As I got Lucy strapped in the car seat we saw Catherine running towards and she clambered into the car next to Lucy and gave her a massive hug. She had been really missing Lucy. A few nights earlier she started crying when Emily was telling us how she had met Mary and Lucy with their mummy in Oakham and how Lucy was so excited to see her and hugged her leg and Mary gave her a wave. It was lovely to see Lucy and Catherine together again. Lucy returned the warm welcome she got from Catherine and by the time I drove off they were chatting away. Soon we were in Oakham, we picked up Emily and then headed home listening to music and talking excitedly. 

When we got home Emily was telling us all the things hey had been allowed to do on the last day before the holiday. It's Emily last day at the old VC School in Oakham and she starts in the new VC School when she gets back after the holidays. The teachers allowed them all to sign their names on walls of the classrooms in their last days lessons. Emily thought it was a rather neat idea, although it seemed some of the year ten boys took things a bit to far. I hope someone managed to photograph the signatures before they are lost when the buildings are destroyed and with it the history of the past they represent. It would be a shame to lose a record person record of the last pupils at the school forever.

Emily, Catharine and Lucy played together until dinner and after dinner they all settled down to watch some television and a DVD together on the carpet in the living room. Lucy must have been tired because she just snuggled into Catherine as they lay together and watched the DVD together until it was time for Lucy's bath, stories and bed. She is cute when I give her kisses and night time cuddles, it is like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

After Lucy was in bed Emily and Catherine got on with watching some television for older children on BBC iPlayer before going onto Facebook. Emily and her friends were having a great time discussing the demise of the old school and saying which teacher they hoped would stay at the old school and not move to the new one. All rather cruel but I can remember thinking the same thing about a few of my teachers at the same age. That took them nicely up to bedtime and after emptying dishwasher they went off to bed and to sleep after a long day.

It has been a super day and it so good to have Lucy back at home again after a week of hardly seeing her. I know both Emily and Catherine were pleased to see her and they had a great time with her. What is even better is we have her for another two nights.