It rained today. Substantial rain. For the first time in weeks. Such a relief after weeks of scorching sun and balmy nights. The torrential rain brought the wind with it, great gusts which shook branches and scattered leaves throughout the garden. Words and memories came too. Countless words scurrying in my head, begging to be heard, demanding to be written down. Such a blessing after the drought of the past few months.

For some reason, the rain battering against the open window and the sheet of Visqueen I was folding made me think of 1974. I have no idea why. For most of the afternoon 1974 came flooding back in short sharp scenes. It wasn’t a particularly memorable year. It was however, the first time I got to spend more than a few hours with "AA" - my exotic American Aunt, who up until 1974, had been little more than a glamorous black and white studio photograph.

AA’s arrival had been heralded by a touch of the supernatural in the most unlikely of circumstances. My mother, who had been cooking dinner at the time, ran from the kitchen calling AA’s name and crying. My father calmly strolled into the kitchen, switched off the appliances and then poured my mother a small glass of sherry. They waited for the telephone call to come, as indeed it did, just a few hours later.

AA had been widowed. Her late husband, a serving American Air Force Officer had passed over and she had decided it was time to return home to the UK. My imaginary trip to the States to visit her and the subsequent much longed-for encounter with Donny Osmond was now well and truly out of the question. On the upside we were going to be entertaining a larger than life character who drank coffee - strong coffee, which according to my father had to be made in the percolator rather than the instant stuff which came in a jar.

We had met before AA and I, our first encounter leaving a faint impression with me. It was different in 1974. The first thing I noticed then was her eyes, they were green like my own. My mother, father and sister all had blue eyes. The cousins I was closest to had blue eyes also. The green eyes had been unexpected.

Within weeks AA had a gold Ford Capri complete with sunroof, a small cottage with a predominant amount of orange coloured furniture and my mother’s back up. I wasn’t to get too attached – AA was probably not going to stay around for long. No one knew at that stage how true that statement was going to prove to be.

To my knowledge AA’s vices were the previously mentioned strong coffee, king size cigarettes and bingo. There may have been others which I fail to remember. I do remember two gifts from her and a shared day trip to an American Air Force base here in the UK. The gifts were a caramel smock type dress with a wide leather-look belt and a decadent satin dressing gown. The day trip took place one hot summer’s day. A long drive to Oxfordshire in the Capri and a return journey at night driving through the rain at what seemed like lightning speed.

Months later, in the early hours of the morning, they found the Capri parked on the driveway with AA's body slumped over the steering wheel. A heart attack at 40 years of age. No previous history of heart disease. Of course my mother knew about it before the police informed her. She woke from her sleep crying AA’s name and my father made a cup of tea while they waited for the telephone call to come, as indeed it did, just a few hours later.

Today brought rain, 1974 and the inspiration to write again after a long absence of words.

Labels: Life, Miladysa, rain

Posted by Miladysa at 10:52 PM 10 Comments

Not really -- although with the arrival of June it appears I missed out on blogging May!

Sharing some photographs of a recent trip to our local farm shop might be a good way of welcoming June.























You could be forgiven for thinking that this is a black and white photograph but if you look closely you might just glimpse a tinge of pink somewhere in there. We've had quite a bit of sunshine lately and this porker was having a delightful time swimming in the mud!
























Whose pony tail is the longest?























One of the benefits of shopping local is the fantastic views! You can just see the windmills of Scout Moor Wind Farm in the distance. The wind farm was very unpopular to begin with and was met with much opposition. Planning permission was granted anyway and it's here to stay. I would much rather live with a wind farm than a nuclear power station but I would hate to see too many of them on our beautiful wild moors.























Looking back along the road leading to the farm.























It's hard to tell from this photograph but those little dots on the ridge are actually deer - hence the name of the farm shop. Deerplay Moor is close by and it's fitting that deer have been reintroduced into this fabulous landscape.





























Let's just sit down here a little while and dangle our feet in the brook :)


Many thanks for all the emails and comments during my May hiatus. Sir H's operation has been rescheduled for 26 June - fingers crossed that this time it goes ahead!

So... what have YOU been up to lately?

Labels: Lancashire, Miladysa, Photographs, Rossendale

Posted by Miladysa at 6:18 PM 26 Comments

"...they are being destroyed at the rate of a football pitch every five seconds..."

Labels: deforestation, frog campaign, Prince Charles, rainforests

Posted by Miladysa at 9:12 AM 21 Comments

Following on from Above - a peak at what lies beneath the tree canopy

Labels: Lancashire, Miladysa, Photographs, Rossendale

Posted by Miladysa at 12:57 PM 16 Comments