Greetings from a very wet Cornwall. I hope you all had a good Christmas and are safe as we wait for 2013 to replace 2012....a good year I hope with the magical number 13.....

 

 

 

I put my last washing load on at 9.30pm and will not being doing any more until January 2nd....''Never wash on New Year's Day or you'll wash someone in the family away''....An Old superstition I know but I have never washed laundry on New Year's Day....

 

 

What New Year's superstitions do you follow?...

 

 

Have a Happy New Year and all the best for 2013...

 

Until next time, take care...Hugs Chrissy xx

 

 

 

Christmas blessings to all of you from Cornwall. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends..... 

It is some years since I have be sledging down a snowy hill but the old sleigh is still in the shed....

''Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night'

Until next time, take care...Hugs Chrissy xx

In Memory of Those Who Gave Their Lives For Freedom...

 

 

 

 

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old...

 

 

 

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn...

 

 

 

At the going down of the sun and in the morning...

 

 

 

We will remember them...

 

 

Until next time, take care...Hugs Chrissy xx

 

 

Guy Fawkes Night

 

 

Greetings from Cornwall on Guy Fawkes Night or Bonfire Night as it is normally known. Did you all have a safe and enjoyable evening. I stayed home in the warmth after another cold day here. I always tried to do so because two of my cats and one of my dogs get very scared hearing the fireworks go off.....

 

My son however did have some fireworks for my grandees but sadly his next door neighbour complained despite other fireworks going off in the neighbourhood....

 

I hope they had some sparklers at least they don’t make any noise....

 

I know he won’t have had a bonfire. It’s many years since I had one, in fact I was a child myself when we last had a bonfire, Bonfire Night would not be that without one...

 

As a child Bonfire Night was not just about bonfires and fireworks. It was a time to make a guy, collect all sorts of things for the bonfire, get together in the street and share everything between neighbours...a fun time...

Guy Fawkes wax model buring on the bonfire at the Billericay Fireworks Spectacular in Lake Meadows Park, Billericay, Essex (curtsy of wikipedia)

 

But as the actual name of today implies, there would be no special November 5^th every year if it was not for Guy Fawkes, who along with others plotted to blow up the House of Parliament on November 5 1605....

Guy Fawkes

And so each year fireworks are sold, bonfires are made, a Guy thrown on the fire and people get together to do just that.....

Last year I took photographs of fireworks in my friend’s garden. Some did not turn out as just fireworks. It may be just me but I saw other images that I would like to share with you..

Do you see what I see....

Eerrie

Star Like

A Fairy Flying Away

Two Birds Flying Home

A Eagle or similar Swooping Down

 

The last one is just a beautiful image of the moon peaking through the pampas grass

 

Until next time, take care...Hugs Chrissy xx

Remember, remember, the 5th of November
The Gunpowder Treason and plot ;
I know of no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes,
'Twas his intent.
To blow up the King and the Parliament.
Three score barrels of powder below.
Poor old England to overthrow.
By God's providence he was catch'd,
With a dark lantern and burning match

Holloa boys, Holloa boys, let the bells ring
Holloa boys, Holloa boys, God save the King!

Hip hip Hoorah !
Hip hip Hoorah !

A penny loaf to feed ol'Pope,
A farthing cheese to choke him.
A pint of beer to rinse it down,
A faggot of sticks to burn him.
Burn him in a tub of tar,'
Burn him like a blazing star.
Burn his body from his head,
Then we'll say: ol'Pope is dead.

Hip hip Hoorah !
Hip hip Hoorah !

 

 



 

Greetings on All Hallows Eve...Yes it's me. I know, long time no see me here but it's been a very busy time with family matters and I am sorry for neglecting this blog. I have so wanted to post here but before you know it months have flown by but I'm here now. A quick hello I know but hello all the same....

 

Had a lovely time tonight at a friends house with my hubby and two grandees, who were very tired on their return home and fell asleep in their beds soon after (my grandees not my hubby..lol..)...

 

Until next time, take care...Hugs Chrissy xx

Remembering 9/11

Hello from Cornwall on this day of remembrance for those who lost their lives on September 11 2001. My thoughts are with the family and friends of those lost that day.....

~~~~~~~

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am in a thousand winds that blow,
I am the softly falling snow.
I am the gentle showers of rain,
I am the fields of ripening grain.
I am in the morning hush,
I am in the graceful rush
Of beautiful birds in circling flight,
I am the star shine of the night.
I am in the flowers that bloom,
I am in a quiet room.
I am in the birds that sing,
I am in each lovely thing.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there. I did not die.

~~~~~~~

Least We Forget

Until next time, take care...Hugs Chrissy xx

Once In A Blue Moon....

Greetings to all and a Happy Blue Moon...isn’t the moon beautiful tonight. I went outside earlier to look at it and to take some photographs but my camera’s battery decided to go flat!!!!! Ah well, I still enjoyed the magic of the moment....

This natural phenomenon occurs when there is a second full moon in one calendar month, the last ‘Blue Moon’ was in March 2010. We are very lucky to see this rare occurrence as the next one will not be until July 1915. Hence the saying ‘Once in a Blue Moon’ which today means ‘every now and then’.....

Neil Armstrong 1969

So it’s especially fitting that today is also the memorial service for Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the Moon, who died 25 August this year.....

Curtsy of The Smokey Cauldron on Facebook

WHEN THE MOON WAS BLUE BY ENID BLYTON

~~~~

When the moon was blue

the sea was made of lemonade

and my boat was a raspberry bun

All the trees where golden cheese

which melted in the sun

I went to a school in a swimming pool

with a teacher who was a seal

I dressed up in a banana skin

with a hat of orange peel

My house had feet and roamed the street

to a different place each night

It got up and ran passed the garbage man

and gave him a terrible fright

All kinds of flowers rained for hours

until the city looked like a fair

People had roses under their noses

and daffodils in their hair

I was allowed to choose some special shoes

which walked on walls and ceilings

I went up like a fly 10 stories high

it was a fantastic feeling

My wooden bed was a rocket ship instead

and it took off one afternoon

On a long flight which lasted the night

and landed me on the moon

When the moon was blue.

Until next time, take care...Hugs Chrissy xx

Remembering the Witches of Pendle Forest.....

Greetings from Cornwall and welcome to all who have stopped by to visit here. No doubt you may notice that it’s been a while since I visited here myself but life has been busy in more ways than one....But I did not want to miss noting an important date in history, August 20 1612. For it was on this day 400 years ago that the Witches of Pendle Forest were hanged for witchcraft.....

It is hard for us in the 21st century to imagine that such an event could occur but ignorance and fear can create such hysteria which can lead to events such as those in 1612...

Pendle Hill by Charles Rawding

In the wild and beautiful county of Lancashire, England, lies the area of Pendle. Overlooking this landscape is Pendle Hill, which is famous for its links to three events which took place in the 17th century: The Pendle Witch Trials, (1612), Richard Towneley’s barometer experiment (1661), and George Fox (1652), who was reported to have visited Pendle and was involved with the foundation of the Quaker movement. A Bronze Age burial site has also been discovered at the summit of the hill....

But it is to 1612 that we will visit today....

As the people of Pendle went about their daily lives on the 21 March 1612 they were unaware that an incident was occurring that would result in men and women ending their lives on the gallows....




Alison Device was a member of a local family who had for some time been suspected of witchcraft. Her parents were John & Elizabeth Device and her grandmother was Elizabeth Southerns, who was known locally as Old Demdike... On March 21 1612 Alison was on her way to Trawden Forest when she met a pedlar, John Law, from Halifax. During this chance encounter she asked for some pins from him but he refused to give her any. As he walked away he stumbled and fell but managed to regain his feet and reached a nearby inn. He made no accusations at this time but Alison believing she had powers was taken to see him some days later by his son Abraham Law. She apparently asked for forgiveness and confessed.....

Due to the religious upheaval at the time every Justice of the Peace in Lancashire was ordered to compile a list of recusants in their area. The JP for Pendle was Roger Nowell of Read Hall and following a complaint from the Law family he conducted an investigation.... And so began the false allegations of witchcraft which resulted in the witch trials at Lancashire Assizes....

On March 30 1612 Alison, her mother Elizabeth and brother James were summoned to appear before Roger Nowell. Alison confessed to selling her soul to the Devil and James stated that she had confessed to bewitching a local child. Their mother Elizabeth stated that her mother, Old Demdike, had a mark on her body....When asked about Anne Whittle, known locally as Chattox, who was the matriarch of the other family reputedly involved in witchcraft, for whatever reason Alison saw it as a chance for revenge. She accused Chattox of murdering four men by witchcraft and for killing her father John Device in 1601....

On April 2 1612 Demdike, Chattox and Anne Redferne, daughter of Chattox, were summoned to appear before Roger Nowell. Both Chattox and Demdike were blind and in their eighties and made confessions to having given their souls to the Devil. Anne Redferne made no confession but Demdike stated that she had seen her making clay figures...Based on evidence from witnesses and the accused confessions he committed the four women to Lancaster Gaol, to be tried for maleficium – causing harm by witchcraft – at the next assizes....

An illustration of Ann Redferne and Chattox, two of the Pendle witches, from Ainsworth's novel The Lancashire Witches, published in 1849

Before August 1612 more people would be accused of witchcraft and join the women at Lancaster, which may not have happen but for a meeting at Malkin Tower on Good Friday, 6 April 1612.....

On this day friends and others sympathetic to the families attended this meeting. To feed those present James Device stole a sheep. When Roger Nowell heard about the meeting he decided to investigate the reason why and who had attended... As a result of the inquiry, eight more people were accused of witchcraft and committed for trial: Elizabeth Device, James Device, Alice Nutter, Katherine Hewitt, John Bulcock, Jane Bulcock, Alice Gray and Jennet Preston. Jennet Preston game from Gisburn, which at that time was in Yorkshire, so she was sent to York Assizes for trail, found guilty and was hanged on 29 July on the Knavesmire, the present site of York Racecourse....

Knavesmire, York Racecourse

The remaining seven people were sent to Lancaster to await trial. The eleven people from Pendle shared the dungeon below Well Tower at Lancaster Castle with the three women from Samlesbury who were also accused of witchcraft....

Lancaster Castle

A Witch Trial

Over the 18 and 19 August 1612 the witch trials began and ten of the accused people from Pendle appeared before the judge Sir Edward Bromley. Elizabeth Southerns, Old Demdike, had died while awaiting trial. Of the ten people seen that day only one was found not guilty, Alice Grey. The remaining nine were found guilty and were hanged on 20 August 1612 at Lancashire Gallows....

The most surprising person to be accused of witchcraft was Alice Nutter, a gentlewoman of Roughlee, Pendle. It is reported that she remained calm with dignity throughout her ordeal.....

'Almost everything that is known about the trials comes from a report of the proceedings written by Thomas Potts, the clerk to the Lancaster Assizes. Potts was instructed to write his account by the trial judges, and had completed the work by 16 November 1612, when he submitted it for review. Bromley revised and corrected the manuscript before its publication in 1613, declaring it to be "truly reported" and "fit and worthie to be published’’ ~ wikipedia ~'


In memory of the Witches of Pendle Forest and all other innocent people who were sent to their deaths because of ignorance, fear and hysteria at that time....

Until next time, take care... Hugs Chrissy xx