Back To School : The Gallery

I feel really emotional about the kids going back to school this year. We've had such an amazing summer that was over way too soon. Time seems to be whizzing by so fast that I can't seem to keep up.

My children are growing so quickly and after 20 years, this will be the last year I have a child at primary school. It certainly is the end of an era.

The first day back was a shock to the system for everyone and for the first time ever I missed the opportunity to take a photo before they left for school. It made me miserable all day and when I tried to gather them together when they got home, I only managed to bribe two out of three into the rain. This made me sad.

But here they are, Sonny at the start of year 9 and my baby, shiny, happy, Betty ready to take on year 6. Cute or what?!

For The Gallery.

Breathe - The Gallery

For this week's The Gallery, my beautiful Betty's first breath.

Breathe - The Gallery

Yellow

The Gallery - Yellow

Bright, cheery and full of fresh promises of warmth. Daffodils, heralding sunshine, happiness and light.

I pondered how many of the photographs inking up with this week's Yellow Gallery would be Daffodils? I opted for something equally as yellow but more me.

Do you know what the picture is?

For The Gallery. Join in over on thestickyfingersblog.com

Something Beautiful - Biba

The apple of my eye, my baby girl turned 12 yesterday. She has been rocking her something beautiful (almost) since the day she was born (chicken pox wasn't a good look).

For this weeks The Gallery

A Younger Me : The Gallery

21 Again

I turned 41 this week and spend some time pondering about what age I would like to be if I could turn back the clocks whilst keeping hold of my 41 years of life experience.

I settled on 21 because I was about to change my life in such an earth shattering and unnecessary way. The bright life in this photograph masks everything that was going on inside me.

Hindsight is such a wonderful thing don't you think? I certainly would have done things differently if I'd known then, what I know now.

For The Gallery : A Younger Me.

World Photography Day : The Gallery

Monday was World Photography Day. A single day of celebration of photography from all over the world. 

I spent the day at the Eden Project, Cornwall. Where did you spend the day?

For The Gallery.

The Gallery No 149 : Into the Archives

I wasn't going to join in this weeks Gallery theme. I got quite emotional looking through everyone's pictures and that made me really miss my mum. 

Six months on and it really isn't any easier. I'm still randomly bursting into tears at the most bizarre things (that only she would understand).

This photograph of Mum (aged 9) fell from the bottom of a drawer in my office last week. Her way of showing that she was with me?

Anyway, what I have realised after pinning it on my wall, is that Betty (who is also 9) really, really looks like my mum.

I'd never seen that before.

For The Gallery over on Tara Cain's blog. If you don't know what it's about, pop over and have a read.

Youth, me, The Gallery

They say that 'youth is wasted on the young' and now that I'm into my 41st year, I have to agree. I wish I'd appreciated my teenage years and not been in such a hurry to grow up. But that's an easy reflection to have all these years later.

I found this photograph of me in a big folder with my name on it, when I was sorting through my mums things after she died.

It's 1983, I was eleven, the same age as Biba is now. It was taken for the round of auditions I did for residential dance schools ahead of my senior school years. The auditions were scary and it turned out that we couldn't afford the fees despite my success. 

My life path would had been so different if I'd spent those final school years training instead of being headstrong and breaking all the rules for the hell of it.

Parenting really isn't easy and I'm deeply regretful of my grumpy teenage attitude now that my mum is gone. I truly hope that my children have a safe passage to adulthood and that they reflect on their youth  with love and happiness.

For The Gallery : Youth, do stop by some of the other posts on the link, even if it's just for the 80's perms. They are epic.

Together : The Gallery

This is me, aged 12, taken on holiday in Cornwall...the year was 1984.

I din't speak to my parents much that year, or the next, or the next and in all honesty I didn't really speak to them much at all in the years after 1984. 

Me - aged 12 in 1984. Already bang into The Smiths and with a face to match. 

I don't know why, but I do know that look on my face because I see it every day when my own daughter looks back at me.

When I see that look... I hope, with all my heart that she is bigger, better and stronger than I have managed to be in my life and I hope more than anything that she manages to secure that bond with her sister and that they are there for each other.... together... forever...

Photo of my girls as seen in the Annabel Karmel Princess Cookbook

For The Gallery over on Tara Lara's epicness... She's be the real No 1 Mummy Blogger to those who've been around long enough to know what shit sticks.... 

Word.

C if for..... Candy Crush

For week 133 of The Gallery : The Letter C can only be for one thing... CANDY CRUSH!!!

An ode to the hours of my life lost over the last couple of weeks, that I will never see again. Addicted??

Browsing The Gallery on TheStickyFingersBlog is THE ONLY way to while away the time between Candy Crush life fills. It's official. 

Now what level are you on???

The Gallery : Noses

Aggy has THE cutest nose I have ever seen!

For The Gallery.

The Gallery : The 80's

It would seem rude not to join in this weeks 80's theme over on The Gallery..

A fresh faced, fifteen year old me in 1987.

I have to say I was quite cool back then (even if i say so myself). I was crazy into The Smiths and had a wardrobe full of vintage 1950's dresses that I wore with chunky knit cardigans and a pair of waxed brown Dr Martens shoes. It was a good look!

Do check out the other perms going down in this weeks retro theme!

Autumn

For this weeks The Gallery I've gone back to 2005 when my girls were 2 and 3....
I give you Autumn, my favourite season.

The Gallery : 8pm Bunny Time

8pm in our house is bunny time. We love to sit and play with Cat and Bridey our beautiful Rex rabbits.

Spotty Bridey is a muncher, she loves to eat.... a lot...

Cute little Cat is a bit of a nipper and if you don't watch out she will chomp down on your arm, leg, finger or anything else in her path!

Our rabbits have their own blog (obv....). You can follow them at Rabbitstweettoo.tumblr.com 

For this weeks The Gallery over on the awesome Tara's Cain's blog. Join in, visit a few more blogs on her linky and have some fun!

The Gallery : Trains, Planes & Automobiles

I've just spotted this week's theme in The Gallery and I couldn't really not post could I? If you follow me you may already be aware of my dedicated London Underground Lover blog, if you haven't stopped by please do.

Kings Cross St Pancras, Picadilly Line. My entrance point to London town.

For The Gallery.

The Gallery : Colour : St Pancras Station

I've had a long term love affair with St Pancras Station and this staircase to the underground has always felt like a doorway to an exciting new world.

For The Gallery. 

Do stop by the Linky and loose yourself in this weeks celebration of colour.

Comments and views are appreciated... as always!

Light At The End Of The Tunnel

Since falling in love with Instagram I've become slightly obsessed with tube tunnels. This is my current favourite shot, especially as it hit the Instagram Popular page on Sunday with over 800 likes. 

I like it too! 

For this weeks The Gallery : Light. Do check out some of the other photographs on Tara's Linky

My Mum

Given the weekend that I've just had, this weeks The Gallery theme of A Family Story really couldn't be more fitting.

My mum has been ill for a long time. She has emphysema or COPD. In 1996 she had revolutionary lung reduction surgery to give her another five years. In December 2011 she had a letter from her consultant congratulating her on making it to 15 years post op.

She's a fighter, just plain stubborn, a bit of both.

Every winter is a struggle.

She rattles due to the cocktail of drugs that keep her going, she's ballooned due to the steroids, she needs additional oxygen round the clock and that's when she's well.

When a bug hits she is back to hospital. In and out for weeks on end sometimes. Chest infections, pneumonia, heart attacks, depression. I've lost count of the mad dash 270 mile journeys I've made to Cornwall to see her.

For a whole bundle of reasons we aren't a close family but after getting a call from my dad on Friday evening followed by a call with her nurse the next morning I knew that I had to get to her - and fast. They said this was it, that she wouldn't last the weekend.

It was a sad couple of days, lifted only by the fact that I had Ethan and my big brothers by my side.

Saying goodbye to her was one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do. She couldn't really speak and the look in her eyes said that we would never see each other again. Ethan saw it too and when I close my eyes I can see it. It makes me feel completely empty inside.

It's Wednesday today and she's still with us, fighting, stubborn.

So to my picture, this is the only photograph I have of mum and me. It was taken in Cornwall when I was 12 before the emphysema took hold.

I dedicate this post to my mum and I pray that she keeps on fighting because I need her, I know that now.

Don't forget to check out the other posts in this week's The Gallery.

Me Right Now : Original Sister

Its been quite a while since I joined in The Gallery. Life has kind of gotten in the way of small personal pleasures like that. But I'm back with this weeks 'Me Right Now' theme.

I'd just taken this picture of Biba when I read Tara's prompt. She's sitting in hair and make up at this weeks shoot for the new Original Sister Collection.

She had some awesome hair do's durning the day and I can't wait to see the official collection images. Biba had a great day and met some new friends. I know that Ali from Original Sister will be really pleased to know that Biba said that was the best shoot she'd ever done.

Go check out www.originalsister.com and the rest of the pictures in this weeks The Gallery.

Eyes

It's been a really long time since I joined in with The Gallery. Life and work just kind of got in the way of my favourite Wednesday pursuit but I really couldn't resist this weeks eye theme.

Two beautiful eyes from my two beautiful girls. Their depth and beauty takes my breath away, I wish I had eyes like theirs... I could gaze into them forever more.  

Betty

 Biba

Do visit the other blogs from this weeks Gallery and do comment on the blogs that you visit - people do like a bit of interaction!