General Chat

When i woke this morning in bed, i asked myself what is life all about, and what are some of the secrets of success in life?

The answers are right there in your House!!!.....
The fan said - Be cool........ The Roof said - Aim high........ The Window said - see the World......... The Clock said - Every Minute is Precious..........
The Mirror said - Reflect before you act........ The Calander said - Be up to Date....... The Door said - Push hard for your Goals......... and the Carpet said - Kneel and Pray......... So carry a heart that never hates........ Carry a Smile that never fades........ Carry a Touch that never Hurts....... God is good all the time.......... Have a lovely peaceful day and take care of yourself because your Precious................

"I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it".

(Terry Pratchett).

Dermot,
Once again you have delighted me with your entry!! I still sing this but never in public! I learnt this when I was very young and staying with family in Ireland. It is truly great to read the first line of the second verse, so many people change it to Eileen Allana, you have the correct line
A BIG hug of thanks.

Bridget in Spain

14.08 hrs :-D

The Spinning Wheel.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mellow the moonlight to shine is beginning
Close by the window young Eileen is spinning
Bent o'er the fire her blind grandmother sitting
Crooning and moaning and drowsily knitting.
Merrily cheerily noiselessly whirring
Spins the wheel, rings the wheel while the foot's stirring
Sprightly and lightly and merrily ringing
Sounds the sweet voice of the young maiden singing.

Eileen, a chara, I hear someone tapping
'Tis the ivy dear mother against the glass flapping
Eileen, I surely hear somebody sighing
'Tis the sound mother dear of the autumn winds dying.

What's the noise I hear at the window I wonder?
'Tis the little birds chirping, the holly-bush under
What makes you shoving and moving your stool on
And singing all wrong the old song of the "Coolin"?

There's a form at the casement, the form of her true love
And he whispers with face bent, I'm waiting for you love
Get up from the stool, through the lattice step lightly
And we'll rove in the grove while the moon's shining brightly.

The maid shakes her head, on her lips lays her fingers
Steps up from the stool, longs to go and yet lingers
A frightened glance turns to her drowsy grandmother
Puts her foot on the stool spins the wheel with the other

Lazily, easily, now swings the wheel round
Slowly and lowly is heard now the reel's sound
Noiseless and light to the lattice above her
The maid steps, then leaps to the arms of her lover.

Slower... and slower... and slower the wheel swings
Lower... and lower... and lower the reel rings
Ere the reel and the wheel stop their ringing and moving
Through the grove the young lovers by moonlight are roving.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

John Francis Waller (1810-1894).

Sorry i have not been around, no telephone or internet connectoion for nearly a week, felt very isolated.
today the weather is heavy rain , b;lack sea is the view but at least it will clear the air from being so oppresive

this caught myatterntion this morning'

Horrible Weather
Staying in bed weather
Cuddling up close weather
Ignoring the world weather

Warm Weather
Go for swim weather
Take a walk weather
Picnic weather

Bridget
12.54 hrs Spain

Epitaph on Charles 11.by John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester

Here lies a Great and Mighty King,
Whose Promise none rely'd on,
He never said a foolish thing
Nor ever did a Wise one.

"Friendship does not watch clocks".

Deaf, giddy, helpless, left alone,
To all my friends a burthen grown.

No more I hear my Church’s bell,
Than if it rang out for my knell.

At thunder now no more I start,
Than at the rumbling of a cart.

Nay, what’s incredible, alack!
I hardly hear a woman’s clack.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) about his own deafness.

Lizlynes

Thank you for your message. Congratulations.

My eldest sister is 74 and has been married for 54 years, my younger sister has been married for 41 years and I am the only one who has bern married twice. First time for 23 years .

I do believe that marriage is for life, so felt a complete failure when the divorce went through, but surprisingly the RC Priest offered me an annulment but somehow that did not seem the right thing to do.
I hope that you have many more years together.

16.55 hrs Spain

Congratulations Spanish Eyes particularly as you've proved the pundits WRONG!! mind you my OH and I have been married for 47 years!!!! Surely we must deserve a medal!! My OH's birthday tomorrow and he's 71, I've known him since he was 20!! Have a happy day.

Sorry I haven't been on here for a day or two. Very busy at the moment and also our Wedding Anniversary tommorrow. Been trying to think of something to write instead of a card BUT my brain is blocked....no comments please !!!!

We have been married for 18 years and both mothers told us we would not last for 6 weeks.. Ha Ha. :-D :-D <3

"Oh, you three are a fine pair if ever I saw one!"

If all the world and love were young,
And truth in every shepherd's tongue,
These pretty pleasures might me move
To live with thee and be thy love.


Time drives the flocks from field to fold,
When rivers rage and rocks grow cold,
And Philomel becometh dumb;
The rest complains of cares to come.


The flowers do fade, and wanton fields
To wayward winter reckoning yields;
A honey tongue, a heart of gall,
Is fancy's spring, but sorrow's fall.


Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses,
Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies
Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten,
In folly ripe, in reason rotten.


Thy belt of straw and ivy buds,
Thy coral clasps and amber studs,
All these in me no means can move
To come to thee and be thy love.


But could youth last and love still breed,
Had joys no date nor age no need,
Then these delights my mind might move
To live with thee and be thy love.

Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove,
That hills and valleys, dales and fields,
And all the craggy mountains yields.


There we will sit upon the rocks,
And see the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.


And I will make thee beds of roses
With a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;


A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair linèd slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold;


A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs:
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me and be my love.


The shepherds' swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.

Another one from 'A Shropshire Lad'

With rue my heart is laden
For golden friends I had,
For many a rose-lipt maiden
And many a lightfoot lad.

By brooks too broad for leaping
The lightfoot boys are lain;
The rose-lipped girls are sleeping
In fields where roses fade.

The Rose of Tralee.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The pale moon was rising above the green mountain
The sun was declining beneath the blue sea
When I strayed with my love to the pure crystal fountain
That stands in beautiful vale of Tralee.
She was lovely and fair as the rose of the summer
Yet, 'twas not her beauty alone that won me
Oh no! 'Twas the the truth in her eye ever beaming
That made me love Mary, the Rose of Tralee.

The cool shades of evening their mantle were spreading
And Mary all smiling was listening to me
The moon through the valley her pale rays was shedding
When I won the heart of the Rose of Tralee.
Though lovely and fair as the rose of the summer
Yet, 'twas not her beauty alone that won me
Oh no! 'Twas the the truth in her eye ever beaming
That made me love Mary, the Rose of Tralee.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

William Pembroke Mulchinock (1820-1864).

Abstract Art

Incoherent dabs of paint in which serious critics detect shades of Metaphysical doubt or alienation, when in fact the artist was simply suffering from the effects of undigested shepherds pie

Rick Bayan

Genes
The hand we are dealt with in the poker game of life.
Rick Ryan

13.46 hrs Spain

5EXY
This really hit home as I seem to be the chief photo keeper of the family. I really do have around 1500, yes 1500 photos going back as far as my great great Grandparent and add to the list around 100 original documents such as wedding and deaths. I did start buying special acid free document folders but they are quite expensive.

I am going to give some of these photos to my children who appear to be settled in life.

Thank you everyone for keeping this thread going,

07.35 hrs Spain :-)

Come, look with me inside this drawer,
In this box I've often seen,
At the pictures, black and white,
Faces proud, still, serene.

I wish I knew the people,
These strangers in the box,
Their names and all their memories
Are lost among my socks.

I wonder what their lives were like.
How did they spend their days?
What about their special times?
I'll never know their ways.

If only someone had taken time
To tell who, what, where, when,
These faces of my heritage
Would come to life again.

Could this become the fate
Of the pictures we take today?
The faces and the memories
Someday to be tossed away?

Make time to save your pictures,
Seize the opportunity when it knocks,
Or someday you and yours could be
The strangers in the box.

I'd like to add this quote from Kipling which I heard this morning on the radio spoken by Aung San Suu Kyi.

I'd not give way for an Emperor,
I'd hold my road for a King -
To the triple crown I would not bow down -
But this is a different thing.
I'll not fight with the 'Powers of Air',
Sentry, pass him through!
Drawbridge let fall, 'tis the Lord of us all,
The Dreamer whose dreams come true!