AN AUGUST SUNDAY

Today I am going to tell you a true story.

 Pamela Ann was born in 1950 , the youngest of three sisters. However her sisters were twins and sixteen years older than her.

When she was approaching her fifth birthday , her father passed away, which left her with her mother. The oldest of the twins was already married and had a tiny baby , the other twin had restless bones and was soon off across the other side of the world to New Zealand.
So there was just Pamela  and her mother, not an uncommon set of circumstances you would say apart from the fact the it all depends on who your mother is.
In this case she was the wicked witch of the north, a name given to her by one of her granddaughters several years later.

Pamela  dreamed of being a writer and wanted to go to uni and study English but no, the headmaster and her mother decided that she should study chemistry ! Pamela  was not a stupid girl and was good at many subjects , so she went to uni and dropped out after one year because she didn't want to study that subject so her heart wasn't in it! She did however study English years later at the open university and got her degree.

Every time a young man showed any interest in Pamela , her mother made sure it didn't last. Twice she left home and bought her own place but again and again her mother complained of her loneliness and other things until Pamela  caved in and sold up and returned home. Her oldest sister Gloria had died at forty two, leaving behind five young children, so there was no help there, her middle sister was off in Australia and New Zealand and when she did visit was just a chip off the mothers block, so again no help there.

You would think that her mother would have appreciated her daughter's sacrifice but no she would moan and complain that Pamela was ungrateful and other things. So Pamela  while holding down a good job in the early days then giving up work to look after her  mother as she got older, put her longed for life away.

It was not until her mother passed away in her nineties that Pamela  finally had some freedom, she returned to work and after a few years bought a house near one of her nieces, in a town by the sea. But she was lonely , don't get me wrong she had some friends but she wanted that closeness of having a partner but by now she was in her mid sixties and did not think it would happen.

However yesterday I attended Pamela's wedding to Ian, a lovely man whose life had followed a similar path to hers, Dad dying young, looking after his mother but in later life.
Ian is 71 and Pam 69 , so it's never to late to find that special person to join you on life's adventure.

 Pamela is my aunt , my mother being Gloria, so I have seen her story as it unfolded and it was me that called my Nan the wicked witch of the north, because she truly was not a nice lady especially to two of her daughters, my aunt Pam and my mum, my aunt Rita , so very much like her mother had the sense to put the world between them.

So it was a fantastic day yesterday when we joined Pam and Ian to celebrate their wedding.

and it was celebrated in style ! The reception was at the bluebell railway , we had a round trip on a steam train before a buffet and dance at a suite at the station.

  We could look round the museum of steam trains and wander the platform and delve in all the nooks and crannies. The volunteers that run the stations were really friendly and helpful and we were able to get off at a couple of the stops to take photos and see the different rooms.

Later in the evening we saw a row of Pullman carriages waiting for the diners who had booked  to have a meal while travelling through the countryside.

I asked if we could have a quick look inside and take a photo or two

fine dinning train style..

a couple of interlopers trying their luck !Michelle in the yellow and me in purple. I did have a very steampunk hat complete with special goggles but my daughter Courtney snapped it up when she saw it !

and I was sent some photos of Clara wearing it this morning!

The wedding had a steampunk theme, was a joyous day and we wish the newly weds a long and happy life.

So after an evening of dancing to fantastic sixties music and singing along at the top of our voices, today's been a day of recovering from all the dancing, I thought I'd got away with it, until I decided to climb a stepladder and the legs said ... no not today! So It's been a leisurely morning but a busier afternoon, because I had to achieve something this weekend on the home front.

I've been out cutting back the roses and lots of other plants that have decided to try and overtake the garden. Paul joined me ,after giving a couple of the kitchen doors a top coat of paint and we worked for an hour or so, cutting back, filling our garden trug on wheels  then emptying it into the garden waste bin, which is now full and we still have more to go in there. But there is always our compost bins, although they are almost full, all three of them!
Of course going out into the garden, I then see all the jobs that need doing but it's finding the time! So we'll plod through them when we are able, twenty minutes here, half an hour there, more when time allows.

So a weekend of family and gardening, no doll play or clearing out even but Paul did manage to trace some metal clips which we hope will help fix the dolls strings tightly together when we restring them. so we will be trying that out this week and if it works an afternoon of doll surgery will be happening very soon.

Tomorrow is the fifth , so if you have a photo you would like to share for doll shelf day please send it in.

Have a lovely healthy week ahead.

Dee