Poison Ring

I had forgotten all about this ring. My father bought it for me a long time ago as he knew I liked silver. He hadn't realised that it is actually a poison ring as the side is hinged to reveal a secret place to place any poison! Just open the ring and tip it into a drink, just like you 've seen it in old films! Apparently it is Mexican. I've never come across one before or since and wonder if it was ever used!!!!!

(Short posts at the moment as I am still packing...... 4 days till removal day!

Apropos of my blogging about leaving three items I'd paid for at a car boot sale Ragged Roses tells of actually leaving her car behind after a car boot and only realising the next day! This prompted me to ask 'What is the funniest story you have about forgetting something?' I once forgot I'd left my dog tied up outside a shop till one and a half hours later the shop telephoned me to ask me to collect him. When I told this story to someone they 'black catted' me by saying they had actually left their baby in a pram outside a shop (in the days when this was quite normal practice) whilst they walked home!

How could I have forgotten little Geordie, sadly no longer with us?

We went to look at our new house again last evening and to measure spaces to decide where our furniture will go. I took this photo on the way home. I have a friend who will be living just around the corner from us and she and her husband always take a stroll down to the beach after their evening meal and before coffee. I thought that would be a nice habit to get into.

Tom dropped a bombshell on us by announcing he won't be coming to live in our new house as he now feels he wants to leave home and share a flat with two friends. I feel very sad at this, I know it's inevitable that our offspring flee the nest but I hadn't imagined he would be going just yet! How strange it will be just hubby and me again.

I think I have a lot on my mind. Has anyone else done the stupid thing I did this week. I went to a car boot I don't usually frequent quite a way from here, bought three items from a stall, asked the man to look after them then only realised I hadn't gone back for them before coming home! I will have to return next week to see if he is there again, I hope so.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend. mine will be spent packing, packing, packing ........

And the good news is....

The good news is we have finally exchanged contracts and move into our new house on 21st April! Busy times ahead. I have elected to do the packing myself so collected the 15 boxes from the removal company. Well that should do one room! Think I may have to go back for more.

It's all feeling a bit scary especially as we have this house just as we want it and are now set to embark on more diy, builders, no spare cash, few spare weekends etc etc but we keep telling ourselves that we are not insane and as the new house has POTENTIAL we will eventually have that looking just as we like it too.

This is our local beach just down from our new house at Lee on the Solent. Hubby was rather cold and battling against the wind on Saturday.

This will only be our fifth house that we have owned which isn't bad going in 30 years and we also lived in two married quarters. The first house we bought was £10,150; this one is a little more!

I had a lovely surprise from http://randomjottings.typepad.com/ who kindly sent me the book Death and the Maidens about Fanny Wollstenecraft and the Shelley Circle. I had commented on her blog that I would like to read it one day and she sent it to me. Thankyou so much Elaine. This lady is amazing, not only does she read avidly she also manages to write a post every day and I thoroughly enjoy reading her reviews of books. Our reader's group is reading The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney for our next meeting. At the moment I am ploughing my way through 1000 pages of Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. I also picked up Toast by Nigel Slater at a car boot this week. I've wanted to read it for a while as several friends have recommended it. I am always interested to know what other people are reading.

I went to see 'The Other Boleyn Girl' at the cinema last night. It was ok but I wouldn't recommend it. The actor who played Henry VIII was totally unconvincing. I hadn't realised they had hair straighteners in those days! When Mary Boleyn was summoned to Henry's bed chamber in between disrobing and lying on his bed she had managed to straighten her beautiful long wavy hair. So, you see GHDs are not new! Actually I used to iron my hair in the 60s. My long hair was thick and wavy and I longed to have straight thin hair so I used to lie it on the ironing board and run the iron over it! Did anyone else do this?

Isn't it wonderful to have the lighter evenings? I went for a lovely long walk yesterday, it was so sunny and warm. I passed fields of rhubarb, daffodils and polythene covered strawberry plants.

I have done another make-over on a directors chair. You will probably recognise the material as I have used it on several projects.