Spick & Span Spring Cleaning

What Ho


I awoke this morning with a judder as a wave of dread flowed over me

                                       

Which is something I do dream off but never seem to achieve so as the sun was shining and I had the whole day off I set too.
 and much to my surprise I achieved quiet a lot.   
I did  a lot of hand washing and several machine loads of washing.
Spring cleaned two bathrooms, sorted out some cloths for the charity shop, tided several cupboards and vacuumed and dusted.
                                                           
I did however have to go into the village mid day and of course had to be presentable so I wore a vintage mauve & white cotton flowery sun dress similar to the one on the left in this picture
                                                                          I think these dresses are just divine.
                          
However when I return I once again got on with the task in hand

Which included planting the bedding plants that I brought from the green grocers in the village I do like to shop locally.
I have enjoyed my self today there is still however lots of Spring Cleaning left to do......

Toodle Pip.

Slim Steph's

                       

A night that everyone will talk about (in whispers) for a long time to come.

Chin Chin

                         
     
                            
     

Quintessential English Gentlemen

                              
I just had to share this photograph with you all as it totally made my recent holiday in North Africa.
I did not know this gentlemen, so unfortunately I can not tell you his name,
however what I can tell you is ......

That he was in my opinion a most quintessential English gentlemen, because he doffed his hat to me as he passed riding his camel.

Toodle Pip.

Petra The Golden City

What Ho


Here we are in Petra Jordan it is a vast, unique city, carved into the sheer rock face by the Nabataeans, an industrious Arab people who settled here more than 2000 years ago, turning it into an important junction for the silk, spice and other trade routes that linked China, India and southern Arabia with Egypt, Syria, Greece and Rome

Me & Himself.......

Petra is now one of The New Seven Wonders of the World.

In the memorable finale of Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade,

the two Dr Joneses arrive at the "Canyon of the Crescent Moon"

and find the ancient temple that housed the Holy Grail.

To get to the city you have to negotiate a long and winding cavern  which gave the city the ultimate protection and which is why  

In October, 1917, Lawrence of Arabia as part of a general effort to divert Turkish military resources away from the British invasion of North Africa, led a small force of Syrians and Arabians in defending Petra against a much larger combined force of Turks and Germans.

                                        The Bedouin women living in the vicinity of Petra and under the leadership of Sheik Khallil's wife, were recruited to fight in the defense of the city, and were able to completely decimate the Turkish/German forces.

^{A very long cool / hot amazing day well worth every step..}
Toodle Pip.

Lillies On The Land.

Shady Ray and I gallivanted off to the Theater on Saturday Night to see Lillie's of The Land.

This amazing and at times deeply moving play charted the very personal journey of four of the thousands of women who signed up to become Land Girl's during WWII.

Girls who hailed from all different walks of life, torn from the love and comfort of their families and often bereft of all basic home comforts these girls not only dealt with the hardship that the war brought but also the hardship of farming life.


These girls worked backbreaking hours on farms across the length and breath of the country determined to
               
                  
do their bit,  to do their best for the War Effort.                      
         

This play was captivating from the moment the house light went down and the curtain opened, based on hundreds of letters, diaries and interviews with Original Land Girl's it was was funny,  utterly captivating and wonderfully moving. Portraits of some of Britain's pluckiest, unsung heroes unfolded before our very eyes.


                                   

Along with songs from the period Lillie's Of The Land is a truly remarkable and sparkling celebration of an extraordinary episode of Britain's History .... The Women's Land Army of World War II.


I saved this dress to wear to the Theater in honour of the Land Girl's

I brought it a while ago it is an original 1940's and is just to lovely for word.

My shoes are from Rocket Originals.

My necklace is a rose carved from Ivory and the broach is made of leather and both are 1940's.

If you get the chance to see this play, grab the tickets as I found it utterly captivating portrait of some of Britain's pluckiest and to often forgotten hero's.

Toodle Pip

























     

Lawrence of Arabia slept here..........

Photos LawtAqaba Castle & Museum Jordon.

Our first port of call as we sailed through The Middle East & North Africa on our cruise ship that offered sumptuous furnishings, exquisitely prepared cuisine and numours cocktails took us to the port of Aqaba Jordan and the land of the mystical and heroic Lawrence of Arabia.

                             

Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence
1888 - 1935.
 led the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire during World War I and was the pivotal figure in the first wave of the liberation movement in which the Arab people liberated themselves from the Turks and then other colonial powers.
T. E. Lawrence was a British Army officer
 the extraordinary breadth and variety of his activities and associations, and his ability to describe them vividly in writing, have earned him international fame as Lawrence of Arabia, a title popularised by a film based on his life.

Lawrence died after crashing his Brough Superior SS100  motorbike on a narrow road near his cottage in England.

 T. E. Lawrence
(Lawrence of Arabia) is said to have taken this photograph at
 the time of the capture of Aqaba


AqabaPhotos taken by T. E.Lawrence at the time of the capture of AqabaAqabaPhotos takeyT. E.Lawence at the time of the captAqabaPhotosten by T. E. Lawrence at the tim of the capture of

Lawrence made the fortress his desert headquarters during the winter of 1917, during the Great Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire..

Me posing at Aqaba Castle
This was an amazing experience as it was such an atmospheric place.


Upon returning to the ship we had dinner and several well earned cocktails and relaxed as our next foray ashore was to Petra.

Chin Chin.