Children Chocolate & Wine

Canned Film Festival

2009-06-01T12:32:00.002+01:00

The rosé's over here.

And the other films are Under the Virginia Creeper and

in the hotel

Enjoy the show!

2009-06-01T09:18:00.002+01:00

Out of curiosity I've turned up here too.

It's a bit quiet but I like the minimalist decor. Can I tweak the colours ever so slightly - it's a bit like being in a raspberry mousse.

I might come here if a need a bit of peace.

Procrastination

2009-06-01T00:14:00.003+01:00

Our heroine, Pondie, gets some new study tips.

And what do you know?

2009-05-30T21:48:00.002+01:00

Hey, hey, it's Saturday! Wasn't that a catch phrase somewhere, sometime? Anyway, it's not too far from Sunday here, an hour closer than you in the UK, but a lot closer than those to the West and already there for our Antipodean correspondents as I write.

Just wanted to put this up here to see if I could and if anyone comments or follows up with a new post of their own, who knows - could this old place actually BE the naughty corner?

Catch Up time

2008-09-08T23:06:00.002+01:00

Great is my joy at being able to sit down and blog, huge is my fear that all those thoughts that have been flying around my head for the past few weeks like swallows preparing for the long flight south will have done just that, disappeared south out of my head. However, here goes.

It is now approaching the six month mark since Mum passed on; what a six months rollercoaster. I can now calmly write that previous sentence without causing the local council to come, buckets in hand and spades ready to open the local drains to cope with the floods, floods of tears that is. Regarding floods of the flashflooding type, well, heavens above, the council really did do well, they sacrificed themselves by staying warm and cosy in their offices, manning the 'phones for a couple of hours while neighbours in every area in the town bagged sand, and tried to help those whose hall floor had disappeared under a mini-Ganges. A Ganges in full flood at that.

One neighbour sat on her kitchen counter in the new kitchen - installed in May - as she watched the table float by on its way into the new garden room. Punting was even considered, but the broom handle wasn't close enough to hand so she had to sit, cowering with fear at what else would befall her and her family. It is at times like these that good neighbours are more than just a blessing, they are a God send. We got lucky, the sand bags held and judicious raising of the drain lid lowered the depth of water swirling around the back door. YD was on her own, she wins my gold medal for quick thinking on how to stop the flood waters from coming into our kitchen. She tells me that the tales I told herself and ED over the years of the '82 calamity and how I coped bore fruit. Blueprint for survival.

We have a new family joke, usually it's the kids who leave the nest, in our case it's Mom and Pop, OH and I who have left. Work continues apace either indoors or outdoors depending on clement or inclement weather on our new/old home and we are deeply content, second honeymoon and all that, don't you know.

We are having funny happenings, such as my Andrea Bocelli disc which disappeared somewhere in the two milimetres between disc cover and cd player. Vanished, gone, house pulled asunder, searches high and low, private detectives being employed contemplated and...nada! Mother is moving things on me, it seems. I put a pair of scissors down on the dining room table the other day, answered the phone in the hall, went back into the dining room, no scissors, it turned up in the study, which was the dining room and exactly in place where the table used to be. I could, of course, be getting absent minded, in my dotage, or something, but funnily enough I don't feel like that, I feel more crystal clear in things than I have for a long time.

It has been one long challenge after another. The walls of the bedroom where the plaster vanished in a puff exposing the lathes; the hole in the ceiling of the same room where Marvin the Mighty Electrician decided he knew best, took his screwdriver and made a hole that an elephant could fall through. The discovery that we needed two new slates while the water cascaded down the dining room wall, the damp that suddenly appeared in the plaster over the dining room window, the plaster that was put in six months ago when I got new windows installed...turns out that an incey wincey hole in the gluey stuff was sufficient for the wind driven rain to find and use for an entry portal. The wood worm in the bedroom floor, all of whom died screaming at us as we cut, drenched and replaced.

There are the joys, plump wood pigeon ponderously patrolling the front garden in search of whatever tasty morsel might be found in the grass, the sight of the Merlin as she hovers over the gorse, the rich, ripe plump blackberries, the best of which grow out of hands reach - and the taming of them with the aid of Mum's walking stick. Cox's Pippin windfalls. The lack of wasps...I am not a wasp fan, the drone of bee's working overtime on sunny days. I am contemplating the invention of bee umbrella's - we need our bee's, wasps I can live without Thank You, even if they devour pests. Ladybirds do the job just as good. The arrival of the Badger and the Fox late at night seeking tidbits left out for them, the arrival of that one eyed nasty bad tempered black cat as well. Overfed mangy moggy!

It will all come together, I have faith in this, more faith than I had six months ago when I looked around me and realised that Mum had been doing cosmetic jobs on the house, and I, typically, had concentrated on her and our gossips rather than looking closely at the funny pattern on the wallpaper in the corner of her living room, the funny pattern turned out to be mildrew arising from a damaged downpipe outside at that corner. The wallpaper is gone, the mildew is gone and the downpipe is repaired. No doubt the old house will throw a few more wobblies at me before she gets much older, but we will wobble together, and I look forward to the day when the whole family will sit around the dining table, eat our turkey and remember Mam with love, affection and much gratitude and wipe a soft tear from our eyes knowing that we have survived as she would want us to and we face a future without her laughing presence but filled with the most wonderful memories of a spectacular woman.

As soon as I get my computer installed normal views from the kitchen window will resume, my fingers are getting itchy and the swallows are flying skittishly at the thought.

Happy 1st Anniversary

2008-04-20T10:32:00.002+01:00

Happy 1st Anniversary to Purplecoo and a big thank you to every single one of you for making Purplecoo the wonderful community it is today and has been for the last year. Gold stars to everyone.

xWWx

A Party Here Tonight?

2008-01-09T16:17:00.000Z

Hope so - I've got an invite!

FOR HOPPING MOON & TUMBLING

2007-12-30T00:53:00.000Z

Dear Hopping Moon & Tumbling,

So sorry to hear that you both were poorly over the Christmas period with the flu-bug. Do hope the infection goes quite quickly for you.

I wish you both health and happiness in the coming year ahead, and I pray that 2008 will be a better year for you.

God Bless

Love and hugs,

Camilla.xx

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO JEP

2007-12-21T17:10:00.000Z

Dear Jep,

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Love and Best Wishes,

Camilla.xx

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO HOPPING MOON & TUMBLING

2007-12-21T17:01:00.000Z

Dear Hopping Moon, & Tumbling,

With my very Best Wishes to you both for Christmas and the New Year.

Love and Best Wishes,

Camilla.xx

Purplecoo Site Down

2007-11-12T11:58:00.000Z

Hi to anyone of our members reading this - sorry but Purplecoo seems to have wandered off into the hills - we are doing our best to find it and bring it back.

Meanwhile - we can have a day trip out to our old skool and post here instead,.

ww

WHOOP WHOOP

2007-10-20T20:07:00.000+01:00

I was going to do a thank you to various people for their help in starting the site and helping HS and I with the running of it . . .but by including some people means you end up excluding others and we are all in this together. The only exception I would like to make is to thank Almighty Admin again - I know how much time and effort he has put into this site and without him we would not have our lovely new site - nor the new things to come in the future . . . AND I would like to thank EVERYONE from the bottom of my heart for making this site such a wonderful place to be . . . .

So let our quiet little drink begin . . . .throws bottle of weak sherry over shoulder . . TOADY BREAK OUT THE STILL.

SO RAISE YOUR GLASSES TO PURPLECOO AND OUR SKOOL AT COWARTS . . . . .

Settles under tap in barrel - someone turn in on please.

Happy Six Months Birthday

2007-10-20T09:03:00.000+01:00

A Happy Six Months Birthday to everyone of Purplecoo . . .you are an amazing bunch of people . . here is a virtual bottle of champagne and a bunch of flowers for each and every one of you.

Enjoy our celebration breakfast with Camilla on the new site . . . and a little 'something' in the coffee is permitted this morning.

Our quiet drink sharing a half bottle of weak sherry will commence with a toast to you all at 8.30 this evening.

Thank you everyone for all your contribution and support. The Cowart's Common Room and skool would be a very lonely and echoey place without you all.

ww

PURPLE HUG

2007-08-31T11:59:00.000+01:00

Camilla has asked that we HUG Jep and Tumbling and Hopping Moon - so add your hug to the comments.

If you need a hug then this is for you too - just add your name into the comments.

I hug to me from everyone that needs, or wants one.

ww

Fennie's Piece about the old Skool

2007-08-17T12:14:00.001+01:00

Bye Bye Old School
Just came back to the old place - you know the pink palace. Our first little school where we landed and all played happily together. Look, the tumbleweed is blowing about the yard and there are cobwebs already hanging from the ceiling. If Matron saw those.......Thought I'd scrawl
something on the wall, or in an exercise book, you know, a last time in this place. It's like a shell, I suppose, or one of those carapace things that you grow out of - if you are an insect teenager that is. Oh well, we had a lot of laughs here. A lot of parties. And it's sad to be leaving, but there we are. The trunks are all packed, the furniture shipped, just a few bins remain and a skip or two. Yes, there's a broken avatar - at least I think that's what it is.

The grass is growing round the old school now, on the playing fields where we had the fete and erected the marquee. And in this cupboard, yes - this is where we had an illicit still. Wow, we were wild in those days. There's a newspaper on the floor - April 21st 2007. So long ago now, so long ago. Back in the dead green duck days. Yes, and there's the naughty corner where headmistress used to put us when we said silly things or were rude, stamped our feet or ran off with the firemen. Well, who would stand there now? There's a hole in the roof, the water is dripping in....splish, splash. Perhaps that's why we all moved on.

So bye-bye old school. Close your eyes and you can still hear the laughter.
posted by Fennie @ 2:52 PM 8 Comments

Tea for one and one for tea

2007-08-17T11:11:00.000+01:00

Creak, the door opens but it seems I'm the only one here. Oh well, nunquam mens, as the Romans didn't say (because it means never brain), I'll drink my tea and eat my lightly buttered oatcake in peace.

Mmmm, ought to tidy up a little. Cobwebs are obviously on offer this week. Should have brought my ceiling duster thingy. Meanwhile, I'll just hum the tune I've been humming since yesterday 'I met a boy called Frank Mills, on September 12th right here........'

Twee bloggers unite!

2007-08-04T12:13:00.000+01:00

Am I missing something or is Kate Muir in the blog list here? There I was quietly browsing today's Times supplement over a pint of tea, when I see Blossom Cottage, Tattie Weasel, Sufflolk Mum and Muddy Boots, all named as (and I quote) 'Boden-bloggers who have twee names like...' etc.

Are congratulations in order? Should push your traffic up anyway! See page 9 of the Times colour mag if you haven't already spotted it.

WHAT INSECT?

2007-07-19T01:16:00.000+01:00

I saw an insect this evening, that resembled like something out of a horror movie What was it, I have not got a clue, perhaps it came from abroad in a Banana Box! Any info, would be great. I am quite queasy when it comes to insects I'm afraid, I usually run a mile. This insect was about ten times bigger than a Moth, light biscuit-tan in colour, and with an incredible loud noise, sounded like a Hovercraft! It came in through the window which I had open as it was quite a warm muggy evening. I was tapping away at my computer, which happens to be by the window, and then this creature came in and began bashing about over the window, with such a loud noise. It's outer body was like a hard-shell. Even the dog ran for cover under the table, she is usually quite fearless.

Not a time to waste, I had to seek courage to quickly go and get large cloth, throw it over him, and drop it quickly out of the window. I saw a neighbour yesterday who said that while she was doing some gardening, a very large insect that she had not seen before had bit her all over her arms, she showed me, it looked like she had been attacked by this flying insect like something out of Jaws! We do live near very open fields, so perhaps it had come from the Wheat, but even so, I have not come across this species of insect before, neither do I want to!

Camilla.x

Our New Skool

2007-07-17T13:13:00.000+01:00

If you are looking at this page and wondering where we have all gone then go to www.purplecoo.co.uk this is now where our new Skool is.

We will be having a Skool trip back to here, our old Skool, on 21st December - for our Skool party. So please join us then.

ww

Wossgoinon?

2007-07-12T09:09:00.000+01:00

...I go to bed for a week, and I wake up to find everyone's vanished! Got to go up to London today, but hope I manage to sniff you all out.

Bye Bye Old School

2007-07-10T14:52:00.000+01:00

Just came back to the old place - you know the pink palace. Our first little school where we landed and all played happily together. Look, the tumbleweed is blowing about the yard and there are cobwebs already hanging from the ceiling. If Matron saw those.......Thought I'd scrawl
something on the wall, or in an exercise book, you know, a last time in this place. It's like a shell, I suppose, or one of those carapace things that you grow out of - if you are an insect teenager that is. Oh well, we had a lot of laughs here. A lot of parties. And it's sad to be leaving, but there we are. The trunks are all packed, the furniture shipped, just a few bins remain and a skip or two. Yes, there's a broken avatar - at least I think that's what it is.

The grass is growing round the old school now, on the playing fields where we had the fete and erected the marquee. And in this cupboard, yes - this is where we had an illicit still. Wow, we were wild in those days. There's a newspaper on the floor - April 21st 2007. So long ago now, so long ago. Back in the dead green duck days. Yes, and there's the naughty corner where headmistress used to put us when we said silly things or were rude, stamped our feet or ran off with the firemen. Well, who would stand there now? There's a hole in the roof, the water is dripping in....splish, splash. Perhaps that's why we all moved on.

So bye-bye old school. Close your eyes and you can still hear the laughter.

NEW SITE

2007-07-09T21:51:00.001+01:00

Hi there for those of you on the CCW page (this one) www.purplecoo.co.uk now takes you to the new site.

To join in the New Site you will need to Register . . .

REGISTRATION

Please read these instructions carefully - I shall type them only once . . .

To join the new site you MUST REGISTER First.

Click on Register which can be found on the same line as Home Common Room Forum -about -

Once you have clicked on Register you will see a form to fill in.

USERNAME this is the name you want to be known as on the site â€“ Westerwitch in my case.

Email fill in the email address you usually use.

Password

Confirm Password

Then put in the address of of your Google Blogger Account to find this go to your blog page and then highlight and copy the name of your blogspot (excluding the http, www or the blogspot.com) and then copy this into the box asking for your Blogspot account.

Next fill in the confirmation code these are the grey letters which should be above the box asking for the confirmation code. The code is case sensitive I think they are all upper case. If you cannot see the code then email me gill@purplecoo.co.uk

Click Submit.

Next go to your email and look for am email from Purplecoo.

Open the email and click on the first blue link this should take you to the Verification page and the verification code will have been filled in for you.

Click on the word verification and you should then be logged in.

If you still can't get in email me at gill@purplecoo.co.uk and I will give you my phone number and we can take it from there.

Then you can log in this time username is your USERNAME not your email as it was in Google.

Good Luck

I was with you but i'm not any longer..

2007-07-09T18:50:00.000+01:00

Maybe i dreampt it??? The move over was so simple i had no problems....now my blumin coookies are unable well i've abled them twice and they still won't play [Gosh i nearly called J ABEL what a lucky escape he had], so i'll give it one more go tonight then open the wine..xxxxxxxxxx

LOGIN PROBLEMS AGAIN

2007-07-08T22:49:00.000+01:00

If you are having a problem logging in then simply quit your browser and re-start it - the problem should simply go away as it up-dates some new information AA has put on. If you still get a cookie warning then you will need to enable your cookies. . . . go to forum and then help and then login problems with internet explorer which explains how to enable cookies.

Any problems email me gill@purplecoo.co.uk

2007-07-08T22:47:00.000+01:00

WONDERFUL AFTERNOON OF TENNIS

I was able to sit and watch the Men's Final this afternoon, sadly not at Wimbledon this year. What a great match, it had me sitting on the end of my seat, shouting like a woman deranged. Bjorn Borg was my hero, I went to all his matches in London, and thought he was absolutely gorgeous. Borg had the world record of wining the title five times in a row from 1975-1980, and now Roger Federra another Swede has matched that. Nedall the Spaniard at 21 years of age, certainly gave Federra a run for his money, and I believe he has the ability to show us his tremendous form of tennis again in many years to come.

Camilla.x P.S. I am unable to put up a title in the box, for some reason still!

and I am still experiencing difficulty in being able to log in to the new Purplecoo website.