how we were, and what we have become. ……

Blog 29 / November 2015

November certainly came along and snapped us up, but the sun is still shining and we are not cold yet.  On the 11^th we took a ride out to Ranville to do our act of remembrance in front of the grave of Mike’s Uncle Bill.

 

In 1989 Mike and I brought the children for a holiday in Normandy never imagining that we would be living in this area 26 year later. Mike knew that his Dad’s brother had died during the D-day invasion and went to the Wargraves Commission in Maidenhead to see if he could find out where his uncle Bill was buried. It meant nothing to me at the time but Mike came home with a scrap of paper with the place and plot number and said that if we could, we would pop in and see what this was all about. This is a picture of our first serious camper, called Rog the Dodge, and we had a few great holidays except that it was a bugger to start and we would all sit with our fingers crossed in hope that he would start just one more time. You can see how young the children were and I am showing far too much leg for a mum of three but we really did enjoy our camper days, and this holiday to the Normandy beaches developed a great interest in the D-day story for us, that has drawn us back to this area over many years. And every time we passed through, we made our visit to Ranville.

 

 

 

So 26 years later here we are again paying our respects and this year we scanned a picture of Uncle Bill and took it along with us. It is such a shame that we look at all these names of fallen heroes and never really know the man, so for a little while or at least until the gardeners turn up those passing will know what William T Baker actually looked like

 

 

 

 
 

 

Uncle Bills son Terry came to visit  us here in Brevands from New Zealand in 2008 and we always think of him on the other side of the world and perhaps we are dutiful family representatives keeping the memory alive, but is it not a  duty for us, it is a privilege.

 

 

 

 

Well that is it, the end of the season, I picked the last of the tomatoes and we are drying the walnuts and after the chickens have had the run of the poly tunnel to clean  out then we will close down and wait for spring

…… not long now …..

 

 

I do have a little corner of the potting shed for new growth over winter and I have cuttings from lavender, geranium and pansies started from seed for the spring. I do have the most amazing challenge on the go this winter though.  On my birthday our friends Shirley and Mark, who are in the antiques business, gave me a paper envelope containing seeds with a beautiful picture of sweet peas printed on the front.  Shirley had dated this find to anytime in the 1930’s and although we laughed at  the prospect of sewing ancient  seeds I took the laugh one step further and I have planted them fully expecting  at least a 20% germination rate. I also went out in the garden and picked this year’s sweet pea pods and planted a few seeds  in a separate pot so I will not be too disappointed, but wouldn’t it be fantastic to bring 80 year old seeds to life….

 

 

Mike’s old tractor was giving me some concern because it had not been started for many months and I had surrounded it with pot plants and made it look more like an ornament than a garden tool.  I laid down the challenge, cleared the plants away and mike applied himself as only Mike can and got the old fella chugging. I don’t know why I get despondent and worried about these events as Mike always gets things going and this old tractor is no exception. I have now put it on the list of machinery that has to be started once a month, and besides, I just love the sound this old work horse makes, and I think I will ask Mike to leave it where we will use it, so we don’t lose it

 

 

 

 

And finally …… I have finished my Canadian holiday blog….well not a blog more of a trilogy, but it is written and now in its first proof reading phase. When we are both  happy with it we will then send a copy to the people I have written about, put a copy  in the year book with all the maps and memorabilia  we brought home with us and then not look at it for at least 10 years. All this blogging I do is for us to have a written memory of our life in retirement, and for us, when the sofa is the best place to sit in all day, to have a good read that will evoke great memories and thoughts of how we were, and what we have become. ……

 

 

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