Dans Le Parapluie Plis

MAGPIE 141

Photograph courtesy of Tess Kinkaid

Magpie Tales on Blogger

 http://magpietales.blogspot.com

Pointy toes almost touching

One another

Hands in pockets

Nonchalant intimacy

For all to see

Misty morning raindrops

Like crystals 

Landing on lashes 

Brushing cheeks

Like butterfly wings 

This day is dawning

Inevitable delay

In saying goodbye

Heavenly tears 

Dans le parapluie pris

Barbara M Lake ©

Trinidad 2012

October 2012

I am reminded of 

Ater the Ball

Many thank to Willow of Willow Manor for the fun filled twenty four hours. A  great deal of fun.  Here's to next year!






God, my feet hurt and my head's still fuzzy!  I did not have absinthe or rum - I stuck to bubbly!

On My Way and Have Arrived. Willow Manor Ball 2012

At last I have left Trinidad!  I was swept through (I think it was the luggage)  and am now sitting at 35,000 feet relaxing.

And when I say relaxing, I mean it.  I passed up on the Buck's fizz and my first drink on the flight  was a Kir Royale the taste of which takes me back to happy times in the Ivory Coast.  A glass of champagne with a touch of blackcurrant liqueur . Bliss!

There was a light change in plan as Placido had to make a guest appearance at a Charity Gala at the New York Met 

but that's not a problem as it gives me a few extra flying hours during which time I can get myself into some sort of order.

The lady below of course if not me but I wanted to give you some idea of what my flight accommodation looks like.

I will be met in New York by  a friend who will ensure that I get to the jet without any hassle.  We will wing our way to Dublin, Ohio where Tess and her friends will soon be gathering.

Placido will be ahead of me by about three quarters of an hour so will be well settled by the time I board.  ( I could die when I think that I took John Travolta last year but one thing in his favour was his ability to dance!)

I thought perhaps you'd like to see the inside. Some I looked at were definitely over the top so I thought we'd go with this one - cheaper too! 

Coming from the Caribbean I know I'm going to feel the difference in temperatures so I threw a  conservative Donna Karan over my arm

which I will wear with a pair of old favourites,  Jimmy Shoo boots

The dress (well two actually) is packed, the shoes are packed, the jewels are packed (in my hand luggage) and the mask is packed, also in my hand luggage.  I had to pay extra to AA because I had more than one suitcase - I should have travelled via Caribbean Airlines because they allow you two pieces.

If I haven't got it altogether now, well - I'll just have to fake it!

I wonder if we'll have any little by the way dramas in the wings! Jealous partners and all that.  It happens.  Last year, or was it the year before, Nigella disappeared at the same time as a prominent figure!  I see hers is a little less rounded these days!

Here's to a happy Willow Manor Ball where elegance will prevail!  See you all there!

By the way, I have already sent the kegs of Trinidad rum aged in oak ahead so that Jacqui and Johnny could check them out before serving.  I didn't send the entire distillery!

Oh and lookee here - here comes the flight attendant again. Thank you so much!

We have arrived and are circulating!

I went against everything I had planned and have ended up in this which I know you've all seen somewhere else before!

The cap sleeves and gloves solved the arm problem!

You can see the jewels so I don't have to describe them.

I have a pair of much loved Jimmy Choos on - shorter heels than usual for me but the dress wouldn't take anything higher.

I decided on some colour.

Why does that man with the twitching eye  keep staring at me?? His eye is hooded. Does that mean he's hoodwinked?? Why isn't he wearing a mask? That would cover the blinking eye!

The Manor looks wonderful as always.  It has been worth the journey.

Ah there's Tess and Helen so will say bye for now and see you all later.

Gown for the Ball. Decisions! Decisions!

Well I'm no further forward.  Here we are, just a little over 24 hours to Willow's Ball and I cannot make my mind up on the dress.  Once I have the dress, accessories won't take that long to choose.  that's the easy part.   It's not that I'm disorganized - just that as usual, time has been against me.  At one point I thought I might just wear last year's Chanel but then I asked myself 'what was I thinking?'  The same dress  one year after another? That would never do.  

Although last year's dress (above) was a classic and there's no doubt and I am a classic dress/gown  sort of person I wanted something different this year.   

So here I am looking at some options.

Or

Or at almost $8,000

What about this McQueen??

Oh dear - so damn boring  maybe I should just branch out and wear red!

Which from the side looks like this..................

But it's the arms - some arms should not be seen  - Sophia Loren and Dame Judy Dench have got that right - make no mistake!

I'm not a 'flouncy' person so no Scarlett O'Hara dresses for me although I did buy  a black ball gown in Harrods, London in the late 80s which became known  in our house as the 'Scarlett O'Hara dress.  It was a heavy taffeta and velvet with a tight strapless bodice a huge skirt from the hips down.   It cost 750 pounds then and I only wore it three times.  At the same time I bought a stole/jacket, cape  which had one arm hole and the other side you threw over your shoulder. I still have it and believe it or not, it's still being worn.  It should be - it cost two hundred and fifty pounds!!  The last time it was worn was in 2006 by my daughter!  Imagine she was a baby when I bought it!

Going back to the Scarlett O'Hara dress - the first time I wore it was to a very special 'do' which was held at the Park Lane Hilton in London.  It was a show business thing raising money for Children's Charities.  Every British celebrity who was anybody was there and there must have been close to two thousand people in the ballroom.  So what would be the chances of seeing someone in the same Scarlett O'Hara dress?  You guessed it - one in two  thousand or two in two thousand?? As I rode up to the reception area outside the ballroom, there standing at the top of the elevator was a woman in exactly the same dress! Horror of horrors!  She watched me and as I stepped off I looked at her, smiled and said, 'you have good taste'.   Hah! She glared at me and stalked off! At least my cape was better than her woollen stole!  We did not cross paths again for the entire night   - it's easy to get lost in that many people!

Anyway this is not solving the problem of what I'm going to wear for the Fifth annual Willow Manor Ball and truth be told I'm not really over the moon with any of the ones here. Arms, bloody arms.  Would I had Michelle Obama arms!

Don't Forget the Willow Manor Ball!

Just popped in to remind everyone that it's Willow's 5th Annual Ball at Willow Manor on Sunday.

I have to rush as there are last minute things to be thrown into the suitcase

I may change designers this year but certainly not my perfume.

Oh and did I tell you that Placido has agreed to come with me? Simply divine dahlings!

See you all there!

Too Much Going On!

The last seven days have flown by and it's only now that I realize I haven't posted and/or visited my wonderful friends. 

Work wise I have been extremely busy - no sign of a replacement but then again I've decided that's not my problem because after the 14 December, it really won't matter what I think.  I don't think it matters much now  either but the work does continue.  

Over the weekend, we pulled off a two day Preachers Workshop with the renowned Fr Maurice Nutt CSsR who will also be conducting a three night Revival for us starting tonight.  Anyone interested in photographs of the weekend can see them on either my Face Book page or the Evangelization Commission Face Book page.

I am presently involved in a Convention (Catholics in the Workplace) which takes place on the 24 November to say nothing of the day to day things that come to my desk.

Have a wonderful week everyone and I will be catching up with you at some stage.  I may even have time to post a Magpie although this week's picture, at one glance,  has not shouted out at me.

Come January it seems I'm going to have all the time in the world!!  Either that or God has a better plan for me which I actually believe He has!

Happy Sunday 14 Oct 2012

This Saturday evening is the first day since Monday last that I've  felt almost human.  Don't ask - I don't know!  All that I know is that I have felt dreadful and spent the majority of time between my bed and my bathroom!

The good news is that my scales are 15lbs lighter!!

It's probably unlikely that I lost that amount in the almost 6 days of whatever it was because I actually began to watch my weight a few weeks ago - although I hadn't noticed any dramatic loss.  However my husband insists that it is a result of the last few days adding that he can tell as the spare tyre has gone.  It won't come to using the services of this man 

because he was absolutely amazing in that he looked after me so well!  Boy he's lucky but he better not push it!  After almost 29 years you'd think he'd have learned what's on and what's off limits.  Mid riffs and butts are definitely off limits!

So am being positive as it's back to work on Monday (imagine being ill for a great deal of one's holiday)  but I will take the remainder of  of my entitlement before the year is out.  My days of  saying 'it's okay' are over!!

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone and be blessed.

It's my ex sister in law's birthday today.  She won't read this but Happy Birthday Elizabeth Harris, popular novelist whose first  book was 'The Herb Gatherers'.

Love Sickness

MAGPIE 138

Sick woman 1665, Jan Steen

Photograph Courtesy Tess Kinkaid, Magpie Tales

What ails thee gentle woman

For no fever can I detect

No beads of sweat

Upon thy brow

Maybe a heart defect?

If thou didst know what ails me 

 Feeling further for a clue

Thou wouldst know 

Without a doubt

My problem sir is you!

Barbara M Lake  ©

Trinidad WI

October 2012

  

In Another Life

My husband swears I was a Latino in another life! Probably because I've danced on tables to this number - and a few others!






We're still dancing!

Negativity Fighting Faith

The last few days have not been great.  I am holiday which is probably not a good thing as it's given me time to think about the forthcoming  'forced' retirement.  Instead of doing the things that one normally does whilst away from work, apart from brooding over my situation, I have attended a couple of work related meetings, taken and made phone calls, received and written e mails and waited for a week for the car to come back from the mechanic.  Probably just as well as the weather has been lousy so car or no car, no days in the sun walking along the beach and letting sand sift through my toes.

I was going to sort out my wardrobe but it's still waiting.  All the clothes that I'm going to give away because I'll never get down to that size again, are still hanging in there.  All the books that I was going to move from one of the bookshelves are still sitting there.  The shelves in the dry food cupboard are still in disarray. The book I was going to start  has been put back onto the pile waiting to be read.  'The English Patient' which I started watching four nights ago is still on pause and it had hardly started.  Basically the things that I need to do are not being done and I know it's because I cannot work up an enthusiasm for anything.  My husband says I'm tired and need to rest.  Well, that's all I seem to have been doing - resting and thinking.  Thinking and worrying.  I'm not normally a negative person - you know the story - glass half full or half empty type of thing but this time, I'm floored. Totally and absolutely floored because of the way the departure from my job has been done by those who have the final say.  I cannot write about it yet because not only am I too angry but also because I'm still there and cannot afford any backlash between now and the end of the year.  I have been offered another position within another department which I am thinking about but realistically I cannot afford to go part time, take such a massive drop in salary and still be expected to use my car with no gas allowances.  But that again, is another story.

I am sure there are thousands of people out there like me  but they are not me.  Although I love my job, I work because I have to work.  Having lost a business, homes and all possessions in the 90s, we have never recovered. My husband has been 'black listed' in this country because he is known for his intolerance of corruption so therefore  has not been able to get a job since 1996.  Yes we started a small business but things are very slow. Why don't we leave the country? You need money to up and start again. 

I was feeling particularly low on Tuesday evening even after going to a Christian meditation session which a girl friend had invited me to.  The session was wonderful but I really don't know what happened after that.  I just could not get rid of that big black cloud thing that I'd posted on Face Book the day before.

It just came to a head and suddenly I was tired of everything.  My humour seemed to have plummeted so one of the first things I did was post on Face book words to the effect that I was going to be scarce for a while as I wasn't very nice to be around.  I used the expression that my late father sometimes came out with when he was unhappy about something - 'I'm disenchanted with life' .  When I thought about it the following day I decided it wasn't life that has me feeling so, but people,  People who have lied, people who have made the whole thing worse by pretending to have my best interests at heart, people who know they've done wrong so are trying to make up for it in ways that they think I can't see through, people telling me what they think I want to hear and people covering for each other.  

All in all, it's a betrayal.  A betrayal by those who because of the positions they hold, are looked up to.  People who are not 'in the know' don't think these men can do any wrong.  What they see is not necessarily what they get.  I have been around far too long, seen far too much and heard far too much and perhaps that's what they're afraid of.

It will get better. I know it will because I know where my trust lies and it certainly isn't in man.  I'm told I'm very good at advising people who are in desperate situations so you'd think that I'd be more positive in my own.  Doesn't work like that!!

After my Face Book eruption I was heartened to receive so many private messages most if not all, asking me not to shut down.  Some good cyberspace friends have shared thoughts which are much appreciated and although I'm still in lethargy mode with an unwillingness to do anything (don't even ask how I managed to get this bog out - I have no idea), I know in my heart of hearts that this can't last forever.  

A friend left this on my FB page. I want to share it because I believe that there are people out there who may need to read it too.

Thinking Thin

MAGPIE 137

It Must Be Time for Lunch Now, 1976 by Francesca Woodman

Photograph courtesy Tess Kinkaid, Magpie Tales on Blogger

If I hide under the window sill

Covered by a tea towel

They'll think I'm out

They will only call me once

Shrugging their shoulders

When I don't appear

They will not come looking

Checking to see

If  I'm going to eat

I don't like being at the table

Where all can see 

Me playing with food

I'll stay here instead and bend 

The forks and spoons

Into interesting shapes

Assaulting the family's precious silver

Lets me concentrate

On thinking thin

Barbara M Lake ©

Trinidad WI

October 2012