A Very Special Day

Back in March my dear hubby and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary.  When we were thinking about it coming up Stewart suggested that we mark the occasion by renewing our wedding vows in St Ives which has a special place in our hearts.  We had found out during the Arts Festival last year that the little chapel on the island is available for hire for wedding blessings so where better to have our ceremony? 



The so-called 'island' dominates the lovely town of St Ives,





and Porthmeor beach sweeps away below it,



Fittingly, the tenth wedding anniversary is 'tin' and Cornwall is the home of tin and tin-mining and as my family roots are in tin-mining in Cornwall everything seemed to fall into place.  We were introduced to two wonderful ladies who make up Cornish Celebrants and they stepped us through the construction of the ceremony.  We were able to meet up with them the week before the ceremony at the Royal Cornwall Show where they had a stand.

 

Meet Nicola and Denise, two warm and supportive ladies.  They took all the potential worry out of the day and conducted the ceremony with sincerity but also joy and warmth.  We had about 20 friends and family to share the occasion and we had so much fun, along with a few lumps in the throat and a tear or two. 



A few mementoes to remember those who couldn't share the day with us.



Notice the chairs that the Council very kindly supplied for us poor pensioners to sit on; we both had poorly legs and thought we might find it uncomfortable to stand for half an hour.







I had read about hand fasting online and wanted to include this ancient symbol of binding us together as a couple and made a woven sash inspired by the beautiful colours of the sea and shore.





Stewart was dancing with joy by the end of the ceremony (to Dance the Night Away' by the Mavericks), despite having a torn muscle in his leg.



I'm not sure what he had said to Nicola but she obviously enjoyed it :-)  All too soon it was time to go back out into the glorious sunshine.







All our lovely friends and family who had either made the trip to Cornwall or live there already (lucky devils!).  Not least my lovely stepson Jamie who made a holiday for himself round our event.

Keeping with the informal tone we adjourned to the pub, The Lifeboat Inn to be exact, and I was completely overwhelmed to find that they had set up an area of the bar especially for our party.  We had asked them if they could cope with us bringing 20ish people for lunch as we knew they didn't take bookings but we were prepared to wait if they could just accommodate us.  It was just wonderful to find they had gone to so much trouble for us.



We had a lovely relaxed late lunch and everyone got on really well, considering most hadn't met before.  

The photographs here were mostly taken by a St Ives resident, Steve Lynton, who we've met through a Facebook group and who has become a very dear and warm friend.  


Thank you Steve.  I know there are many more photos to come from other friends so I'll share a few of those when they arrive.  We felt like we were being 'Papped' with all the cameras going off.  That's what happens when your friends are keen photographers :-)

Our special friends Carolyn and Margaret gave us a little tin mine made from the last of the Cornish tin to remember the day by,






Thank you Stewart for 10 busy, happy, wonderful years, for all your love and support.  You're one very special man xxx



This one's for you Mum xxx

A True Celebration!

I feel I need to record here what an amazing day we had yesterday with our family and Mum's friends down in Essex.  If you'd rather not read all about our celebration of Mum's life then please do skip past and I'll be back to tales of travels and creativity soon.  I just need to record it here as part of my blog before I forget the details.  I don't mean to be maudlin just recording a special day.  Please do pass by if you want to.

My DH and I went down to Mum's hometown of Canvey Island this week so that her many friends could say their goodbyes.  We always knew that mum had lots of friends but we were taken aback by the number of people who were able to come to her church yesterday. There must have been near on 100 people, family, neighbours, church members, and friends from her innumerable clubs.  The vicar, Reverend David Tudor, led the most uplifting and joyous service, most of which had been devised by Mum in preparation for when such time came.  David made great play of how pleased he was to finally be able to relieve himself of the papers and photographs that Mum had left with him 9 years ago in readiness for the occasion. (All spoken in jest).  He had carefully stored even a photograph of herself that she had left with him in readiness!  What could have been such a sad event became a truly smileworthy and funny recollection of what made Jessie the person we all knew and love.  Her passion for looking beautiful for every occasion, everything matching, little hat on her head, matching jewellery, matching shoes.

The love of dressing up running over into fun nights with her ladies' club raising money for charity.

I didn't like to tell her that the 'wedding cake' dress pictured has been reincarnated into some stitchy projects by me when she asked about it recently ;-)  I know the witch is her becaue I recognise her hands and feet :-)

More glamorous dressing up for cruising with wonderful friends like the ZigZag Dance Factory who welcomed her with open arms and gave her such wonderful dancing holidays so late in her life.

 David talked about her love for gardening, including 'acquiring' cuttings and seeds from gardens she visited, no stately home garden was safe if she saw a seed she could rehome!  She had been a stalwart of church fundraising, baking cakes whenever required and I have fond memories of frenetic kitchen activity when friends were coming for Sunday tea, baking scones and cream horns and preparing trifle.  You may remember I made a quilt with her aprons which still bear the scars of Sunday morning baking before the days when Mum joined her Church community.

I have to admit I had not been looking forward to the memorial service but the whole church and David Tudor made it a wonderful family affair with great warmth and vitality and even messages from Mum to look forward and be strong.  I have to admit I am no longer a church-goer but St Nicholas Church and its family churches are very lucky to have David and his team to forge such a strong sense of love and community that can lift you up and wrap you in such comfort.  There were tears aplenty but lots of laughs and smiles too, testament to a very strong lady who I and my brother and our DH and DW are very proud to call Mum.  Even her flower club friends had gone to the effort of making two lovely floral displays to flank the altar.

I read on Facebook yesterday a quote that said that however much you think you have prepared yourself you are never ready to lose someone you love and this is so true.  We have all lost
very dear people, family and friends and it never gets any easier.  None of them are paragons of virtue, we are all flawed but we do our best and we all saw the best of Mum yesterday, the great joy and happiness that others brought to her and that she gave to others just by being Jessie.

She only got on this camel for the photo shot, she couldn't quite cope with the thought of riding it lol

Rest in Peace Mum and always in our hearts ♥ ♥ ♥

PS  I've been talking to my friend about yesterday and just wanted to add here that at the end of proceedings they played the Radetsky March by Strauss which Mum had requested.  Quite spontaneously the congregation started to clap in time to the music.  A perfect end to it all.

When you watch the video you will need to wait about a minute while Daniel Barenboim shakes hands with the individual members of the orchestra.  It's worth the wait!  I remember watching this concert with Mum last year.

Something Quilty and Yet Another Trip

I make no apologies for having been on another little jaunt as I know people do love to travel vicariously (hope I've spelt that right).  The middle of April saw us taking the charabanc to the beautiful County Kerry in Ireland.   Our local coach company just happened to be running a trip to Killarney at the very time that we had been talking about wanting to visit some friends of ours who live beyond Tralee.  My days of driving long distances are coming to an end so if I can find someone else to do the driving I'm all for it.  Plus, we get a holiday into the bargain.  Result!  

 The two photos above are taken from Aghadoe Heights above Killarney and give an outstanding panorama of the beautiful Killarney Lakes.  We were so lucky with the weather and Paul, our driver, took full advantage to show us these views before he took us to our hotel.

On the free day Stewart and I took a local shuttle bus to the far side of these lakes and explored Muckross House and Abbey but more of that in a minute.

Our friends live out on Kerry Head and we hadn't seen them for nearly 10 years during which time my friend's husband had had a nasty stroke so it was lovely to see both of them after such a long time.  Peter has a nap in the afternoons so we were able to relax for a while in June's lovely conservatory while June plied me with wine.  As you can see I had a constant little companion, Ant, who took a shine to us.  I had wanted to take June a gift as it had been so long since we'd seen her and her life is taken up with looking after Peter so I made her a happy quilt, at least, the colours look happy.

A charm pack in my stash meant it went together quickly and I put a fleece back on it so it would be snuggly.  All the sashing and binding was done on the machine too so it was an easy make.  I'm happy to say June was delighted :-)  

Our time with June was all too short but it was lovely to have seen her and Peter at least.  We must try and get across there again before too long.

On the following day we caught a local Shuttle Bus and took ourselves off to Muckross House.   The shuttle bus is new since we were last in Killarney but it is a great innovation (I'm not sure whether the Jaunting Cars would agree) and suited our purposes for the day.  We had been on a jaunting car ride previously and I didn't feel up to it again as I was feeling a bit below par.  The bus was excellent though.  The driver kept us entertained and informed and was very relaxed as only the Irish can be about the itinerary and schedule.  He did make sure that we knew where to be and when.

Muckross House is a jewel in the crown of Killarney.  It sits in an idyllic position overlooking Muckross Lake and looked resplendent in the Spring sunshine.  (I sound like a travelogue!).
First stop was the new cafe complex for some refreshments.

How's that for a view?!

 It was quite a windy day and the cherry tree was shedding its petals like confetti.

 This beautiful old tree was colossal, the photos don't do it justice and its shapes were fascinating.

We had a lovely wander through the gardens and then ventured down to the lake shore.  The grounds were really busy but you wouldn't think it from the photos.

 This beautiful rhododendron bloom came floating by.

The water was making some beautiful patterns to inspire me.

Our next hop on the Shuttle Bus took us to neighbouring Muckross Abbey which proved to be a magical place.   You first see it as you walk down from the road,

The graveyard is still in use and has some interesting memorials and tombs.

Susan Lenz would enjoy a visit here.

The abbey itself is partially ruined but there is free access to the site, which is beautiful.

 This ancient yew tree grows up through the middle of the cloisters.  Yew trees are said to ward off evil and it must be doing its job as, on the day we visited, we saw no sign of 'the brown man' who is reported to haunt the site.

Apparently some have reported a spooky atmosphere but we felt only peace and calm throughout our visit to this beautiful building. 

Finally, (thank god, you're probably saying) it was time to travel back across Ireland via Adare and another abbey.

You're probably ready for a cup of tea now so I'll say tarrah for now.  If I can manage the technology I'm going to start a page for an online course I'm doing at Academy of Quilting with Elizabeth Barton on Working in a Series.  Watch this space!