General Chat

The Old House
(Jim Anderson)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lonely I wander through scenes of my childhood,
They call back to memory those happy days of yore
Gone are the old folk, the house that stands deserted,
No light in the windows, no welcome at the door.

Here's where the children played games on the heather,
Here's where they sailed their wee boats on the burn,
Where are they now ? Some are dead, some have wandered,
No more to their home shall those children return.

Lone is the house now and lonely the moorland,
The children are scattered, the old folk are gone,
Why stand I here like a ghost and a shadow ?
' Tis time I were moving, Tis time I passed on.

Dermot,
Very evocative is how I thought about this poem, I do not know the author, are there any more written by him.
Bridget :-)

Have just found this 'Gem' which I'm sure will be familiar to ALL us ladies (and men too maybe!)

Here lies a poor woman who was always tired,
For she lived in a place where help wasn't hired,
Her last words on earth were, 'Dear friends I am going
Where washing ain't done nor sweeping nor sewing,
And everything there is exact to my wishes,
For there they don't eat and there's no washing of dishes...
Don't mourn for me now, don't mourn for me never,
For I'm going to do nothing for ever and ever'.

Epitaph in Bushey churchyard, before 1861, destroyed by 1916.
Quoted in a lettr to the Spectator, 2nd Sept 1922.

Lizlynes - lovely piece.

With Remembrance Sunday coming up, I thought I would post this.

Why are they selling Poppies Mummy?
Selling Poppies in town today,
The Poppies child are the flowers of love
For the men who have gone away.

Why have they chosen the Poppy Mummy?
Why not a beautiful Rose?
Because my child men fought and died
in the fields where the Poppies grow.

But why are the Poppies so red Mummy?
Why are the poppies so red?
Red is the colour of blood my child
The blood that our soldiers shed.

The heart of the Poppy is black Mummy
Why does it have to be black?
Black my child is the colour of grief
For the men who never came back.

But Mummy why are you crying so?
Your tears are giving you pain,
My tears are my fears for you my child
For the world is forgetting again.

I found this very thought provoking and am sure you all will too.

Lizlynes,

I have many connections with Bushey in Hertfordshire, going back to the late 1700, I wonder if your entry was about one of my ancestors!?

Your Poppy poem has brought tears to my eyes and I am not ashamed to say I cried. Wars are terrible for most of the people involved. As a military family for hundreds of years we, like many others have suffered the loss of young and old. Even now we have serving family members, and know of many young people who are trying to protect innocent people.

I do not discuss the politics as such, for we live in a country, or come from a country where our young people can choose whether or not to engage life in the military.

Here in our part of Spain we started a Remembrance meeting a few years ago, it has been very successful and this year we have four couples from the UK visiting us just to share the day and Remembrance.

We will read this poem during the service.


Bridget

I too will read the poem in church on Sunday, it is so true and meaningful, do you know who wrote it ? and when ?


Regards Jan

On a secondary note, and totally different some words on food


Mark Twain said a cauliflower was only a cabbage with a college education

George W. Bush said now I am President I am never going to eat broccoli again............sales of broccoli immediately went down in the USA

Will try to find some others Jan

No Greenfingers I don't know who wrote the poem, I lost my father during WW11, a month before I was born, and a cousin of my mother's also died as a result of illness contracted in the Desert during the same period. My step-father spent 4 years as a POW in the Far East, which undermined his long term health, so, for me, like many others, War is just such a waste of life, particularly young life, and yet we STILL seem, at the drop of a hat, to persist on going down this road! It's just crazy!

When all else fails be an actor my friend

Francis Albert Sinatra

LizLynes


You are so right about war...we have a memorial at our church to a plane which went down on its maiden flight in 1947.....one of the men onboard had survived the war only to die in this crash...his wife was pregnant at the time and had not yet told him...his daughter comes on special occasions

Adam Scott said..eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.

Alice May Brock said...Tomatoes and Oregano make it Italian, wine and tarragon make it French, sour cream makes it Russian, lemon and cinnamon make it Greek, soy sauce makes it Chinese...Garlic makes it good

I'm with her !!!

and to end for today

Calvin Trillus said.....Health food make me sick !!!!!!!!!

How true


Jan

Supreme and Proud.

This poem is in memory of my father F/O J.W Lynes :30th April 1914 - killed, 22nd Dec 1942. He was 'A Bomber Boy'

We had no common bond
Save that of youth,
No shared ambition
Except to venture and survive,
Until, aloft within that roaring fuselage,
Each dependant on the others
We found in war's intensity
Good cause to say with pride in later years
To those who chronicled the great events,
We flew in Lancasters.

Went the day well?
We died and never knew,
But, well or ill,
England, we died for you.

I googled the poem Why are they selling poppies and its called The Inquisitive Mind of a Child, and is very popular in Australia where it is often ussed on Anzac Day. I understand that it has been adopted by the Royal British Legion. Whatever, it is lovely

Thanks Lizlynes for sharing this with us, I would never have known about it otherwise.

Jay Leno said...I went to McDonalds and asked for some fries, and the girl at the counter said would you like some fries with that !!!

Miss Piggy said........never eat more than you can lift

Regars J

'Only rain will cure drought'.

Mark Twain said...............Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside !

Orson Welles said.....Ask not what you can do for your country, ask whats for lunch !!

I did laugh at the 'Fries' Greenfingers! Heavens, whatever next?!!!

Trouble is in places like that they are encouraged t come out with completely non sensical retorts to a customers order.

Can you believe that it is only just over a month to Christmas and it is still so mild.

So here are 3 sayings / for that time

At Christmas all roads lead home

I wish we could put away some Christmas Spirit in jars and open a jar every month.

Christmas is a time when you get homesick even when you are home !!

Been very busy with our visitors who are not in good health although not very old, and now I am exhausted .
I was up at 05.00 to make sure that they had a breakfast before OH took them to the station for the journey to Barcelona airport to get back to north Wales latter today.

I feel very tired so will not be back until tomorrow, but wanted to say thanks to everyone who is keeping this thread staying alive.

Bridget

This is a quotation from James V1th of Scotland and 1st of England 1566-1625.

A custom loathsome to the eye,hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black, stinking fumes thereof, nearest resembling the horrible Atygian smoke of a pit that is bottomless.

A Counterblast to Tobacco.

Lizlynes

I had to look twice at this, so the argument about tobacco has been around for a long time. How true this statement Is.

Bridget :-)