Drifting through life

Following on again with Toni's A-Z, "a...is for" meme, this week's letter is W. W....is for...windows. Windows are an important part of your home or office, they give you something to look out of when the view inside becomes boring, you can glance outside to check the weather, they can be opened to let in fresh air. And they come in all shapes and sizes, s hip's portholes are windows too. In centuries past windows were small and screens to prevent insect entry were non-existent. Shutters were very common, opened during the day to let in light, closed at night and during violent weather. I think they are a good idea and should be on all homes where the windows are small enough to accommodate them. Like mine. I searched the internet for some time looking for photos of even earlier windows that were often just a shutter held in place by a plank of wood when closed, from the days before glass was readily available to the masses. I couldn't find a...

Following on again with Toni's A-Z "a...is for" meme, this week's letter is V. I really had to search hard for something, V isn't an easy letter. There's plenty of things out there starting with V, it was just a matter of narrowing it down to one. So... V V...is for Ventriloquism Ventriloquism is the art of "throwing one's voice", to make it appear that inanimate objects near to you, (or further away if you are really good at it), are speaking. When throwing your voice you must do it without moving your lips at all, that makes it much easier for others to believe that yes, that broom is talking to me, and good heavens!, it's telling me to "clean up my act!" Ha Ha. Most ventriloquists use a dummy of some kind, usually a male or female doll, with the mouth operated by the ventriloquist via a hand through an opening in the back of the dummy. When I was very young, maybe ten or thereabouts, I used to watch Shari Lewis ...

Following on again with Toni's A-Z "a...is for" meme, this week's letter is T. t ... is for.... Twinsets. Remember those? Knitted in fine wool, or a cotton/wool blend,  the twinset was a short sleeved jumper covered with a matching long sleeved cardigan. When I was very young almost every mum I knew wore these when going to town for a bit of shopping, those were the days when women dressed up to leave the house and wore "housedresses" and aprons when doing the housework. My mum had several twinsets and probably your mum did too. Probably even your grandma wore twinsets, maybe even hand knitted. Younger women wore them too. If you were in the "upper classes" you often wore a string of pearls with your twinset.  Single string for younger women, double string for older women, and don't ask me why, because I don't have a clue. Pastel colours were favoured, although I remember seeing a few in navy blue. I neve...

I'm following along again with Toni's "a....is for" meme. Feel free to join in anytime, Toni won't mind at all. This week's letter is H. h.....is for hello. The following passage has been taken from the book I'm currently reading. "Gone Tomorrow" - a Jack Reacher story by Lee Child. It could be fact, it could be fiction, I have* no way of knowing. But I liked it, so here* it is. "One of the dog walkers came close enough to speak. The dog was an elderly grey mutt and the walker was an elderly white woman of about eighty. Her hair* was done and she was fully made up. She was wearing an old-fashioned summer dress that really needed long white gloves to be complete. The dog paused and looked at me mournfully and the woman took that to be a sufficient social introduction. She said "Good evening". It was close to three o'clock and therefore morning, but I didn't want to appear quarrelsome. So I just said "hello"....