Showing posts with label Coffee & Conversation. Show all posts

Monday

A to Z of Places I Have Never Seen Yet! - Coffee & Conversation

I have been doing a travel series entitled A to Z of Places I have visited and then I thought

"What about the places I would like to visit that I haven't had the chance to go to yet?".

This of course meant I needed to make a coffee and sit and think.

So here is my list of

A to Z of Places I Have Never Seen Yet.

Asturias in Northern Spain
(my husband worked there several times when the kids were young and I never got to go see it)

Baku in Azerbaijan
(my husband has been there and says it is beautiful)

Copenhagen in Denmark
(my husband worked here for a while in latter part of his career and again he never took me to see it)

Dundee in Scotland
(I have seen very little of Scotland and that needs to change)

Edinburgh in Scotland
(There is a castle there and our family like to visit castles)

Florence in Italy
(It just sounds like it would be lovely)

Granada in Spain
(I have always heard about it and now our oldest son has been there and sings it's praises too)

Helsinki in Finland
(I have always been intrigued by this name)

Iceland
(I have always wanted to go there and then our son did and our daughter wrote a novel about travelling there)

Johannesburg in South Africa
(I would love to see the expansive regions of South Africa)

Kenya
(We have a friend who came from Kenya so I would like to see where she came from)

Liechtenstein
(my oldest son has always wanted to go there so I'm copying him and we are both jealous because our son-in-law got to go there this year)

Here is a map to show where Liechtenstein is - just in case someone thought I had made it up.
It is bordered by Switzerland and Austria.

By Elevatorrailfan - This vector image includes elements that have been taken or adapted from this: Location European nation states.svg., CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

Malawi
(my oldest son spent three months there so I would like to see it too)

Nashville in the US
(OK it's not because of the TV programme of the same name even though I loved it)

UPDATE - My husband and I attended the Getty's Sing19 Conference there in 2019 and got to go to the Grand Ole Oprey too)

Oslo in Norway
(Would love to see Fjords and be in a very cold place that is meant to be very cold)

Piza in Italy
(Well I need to see this leaning tower)

Qatar
(I don't really really really want to go there although my husband has been and liked it but I can't think of anywhere else for Q)

Rathlin Island in Northern Ireland
(not far from home but I can't remember ever having gone there and the wildlife is suppose to be great)

Sri Lanka
(No idea why I want to see it but it sounds like a lovely name)

Torquay
(I am an Agatha Christie fan)

US Virgin Islands
(Who wouldn't want to go to the Caribbean?)

Victoria Falls in Africa
(I love Waterfalls and I have been to Niagara Falls so it would be great to get to see the other major waterfall in the world too)

Westport in Ireland
(I hear it is a popular holiday location in Ireland)

Xanadu?
(Please don't tell me it doesn't exist. 😍)

Yet
(All those other places not seen yet that start with any letter because I haven't got any idea for Y. 😍)

New Zealand
(We have been to Australia now I'd like to see it's neighbour to the south)

Have you seen these places yet?

PLUS

Can I add in an object?

Bridge in Paris made of tubing and 3 trampolines.

A Collection of Plates - Coffee & Conversation

Well it was time to Declutter!

A kind of favourite saying of mine is

A Place for Everything & Everything in it's Place

which sometimes just invokes a smile from Fred or other times a laugh from the kids.

Of course you may have seen me write about that phrase before in A Place for Everything and in Everything in it's Place?

But why would they smile or laugh at me?

You see I have been known to collect things.

Yes in the past I have collected:

Plates
Books
Magnets
Anything to do with Arks
Dvds
Teddy Bears
Jig Saws
Wedgewood Pottery
Aynsley China
Scrapbooking items
Notebooks

and the list could go on...........

In the last few years I made a decision on the plates

THEY had to GO!

I had collected plates from all of the States we had visited in America and there were quite a few between Fred travelling there for his work and then us living there for 3 years.

I decided to keep 1 - the first one Fred had ever brought back from a work trip and it was from Delaware but the fact that we later ended up living in Delaware made it extra special.

However I didn't just get rid of the rest of them easily, it took a bit of time and as I went through them I set some aside to think about and finally had these 4 that I thought the kids might want me to keep from very special trips we had made.

You have to take into consideration the fact that they are no longer kids but are all in their 30's now but their reactions were "no - get rid of them all" - why did I ever think they might still be interested in these?

Obviously I am far too sentimental!

So Fred made a trip down the hill from where we live to the nearest charity shop and gave them the rest of my collection of plates from America.

only kidding there were not that many - maybe a bit more than half of that!

There had been a small amount of small plates from around the UK as well but after this they went too. It was a little while later but the decision was easier to make because I knew I had made the right decision about the larger ones.

The right decision has to be made.

In Philippians chapter 4 we are told to think on things that have a good value to them and obviously forget the rest.

Spending our time on these things is important and not cluttering it up with the unimportant or unworthy things that will not bring us peace and help us rejoice as is written of in the verses leading up to verse 8.

It's a decision that has to be made.

Gotta get rid of the ones that clutter up our minds and don't leave room for the good things because it is much better for us to dwell on the good things.

This is why Northern Irish People get so fed up - Coffee & Conversation

Are you from Northern Ireland?

Do you know anyone from Northern Ireland personally?

Do you know they are referred to as Northern Irish a lot of the time?

As a Northern Irish person who has lived abroad in both America and Belgium I have come across many people who have talked to me as if they know more about my country than I do.

Including more about my city of birth than I do (no prizes for guessing which city that is - the one that has been heard of everywhere).

If we were to talk to Americans or Canadians, they would be very offended if we lumped both of their countries together and said that because they are both on the same (very large) island then they are both American or both Canadian.

Or what about the Spanish and the Portuguese; let's decide they are all one nation because Portugal is just a small part beside the larger land of Spain?

But we the people from Northern Ireland are too polite to do that.

Instead we just grin and bare it when Americans do not know the difference between the two countries of Northern Ireland and Ireland (Eire).

HINT! One is part of the UK and the other is Ireland.

Just to educate everyone in the world because honestly it's not just the Americans that treat us this way, I have a short video which will also entertain you.

Yes I know just to confuse you all even more we have suddenly introduced the term

The British Isles

but one of those countries isn't British!

Who knows the difference between Ireland and Northern Ireland?

The Magpie at the window. - Coffee & Conversation

Sitting at my desk in the study one morning I had a visitor.

I don't get many visitors to my study as not many people get near that room in our house because it is not very tidy most of the time.

But that day sitting in the quiet, which I enjoy as I blog and work on things for church, a Magpie perched on my windowsill and made those cute bird noises as he watched me through the glass.

I smiled and said hello, I like Magpies and we often see them in the garden but never so close to the house except for the times they perch on the roof and then run around for a while.

There was another magpie on the grass but this one had decided to sit a while at the window with me. We usually see the two together somewhere on the grass or fence or in the trees just on the outer side of our fence.

I took a break from the computer and just watched this brave and perhaps curious magpie, it seemed so unimpressed with anything but so contented and carefree on the windowsill.

Then a few minutes later it was off again.

I realised I had not even thought to try to take a picture of it but it probably would have flown off if I had moved to get the camera.

A break of even a few minutes can be good for us.

Sometimes life can be too busy or we can make each day too busy.

Always something to be thinking about or doing or planning to do.
Always "What needs to be done today?" or "What's next on the Todo list?"

Anyway

I think that little break of a few minutes was good for me.

I am not Dropping the EASTER! - Coffee & Conversation

Yes it's an Easter Egg - I am not dropping the EASTER!

What is a chocolate egg without Easter?

We would not have had chocolate eggs if it had not been for Easter.

Now the chocolate companies want to drop the Easter in Easter Egg and just have an egg, will it sell more because it will be seen to be more PC?

But it will not be an Easter Egg to many people.

A few years ago I was introduced to "The Real Easter Egg" which is produced

by Meaningful Chocolate.

I was attracted to the eggs because of the fact that they are fairtrade and because they don't just provide a chocolate treat for children (and the rest of us) but they have a booklet (new one each year) for the children as well which teaches them about The True Meaning of Easter in an interesting way.

We have bought them for the kids at our church and we have enjoyed them at home.

But the main thing about these eggs is the fact that along with the chocolate egg

is the Real Meaning of Easter.

When many other Eggs are going to be sitting in our shops this year without the word Easter on them, this is an egg that still proclaims the real meaning of Easter which is the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus who is the only Saviour of the world and the only one by which we have a way to God.

You can read my review of The Real Easter Egg Here.

Then why not check out the website here for more info and details of the other eggs they offer and the shops that stock them but because Easter is early this year orders online need to be in through the site before 6th March to have them delivered on time.

As I said at the start of this post

"I am not dropping the EASTER"

and this applies to Easter as well as to eggs.

Our special times of the year all seem to changing to "seasons" or "holidays" now but I'm still a Christmas and Easter supporter and I will not be dropping either.

Yes it's an EASTER Egg! - I am not dropping the EASTER!

I've got the Coffee! Where's the Conversation? - Coffee & Conversation.

Where do we see a lot of conversation these days?

Mostly on Social Media!

Yes, Blogs, Twitter and Facebook but some of you might like to add in Instagram as well although I don't know it well (having seldom used my account) and perhaps it hasn't gone down the road of connecting people so much in the conversation type way.

We talk about
our friends on Facebook

and
we talk to
our friends on Facebook

and
we talk to
our Facebook friends on Facebook.

A conversation used to be face to face over a cup of coffee or tea.

Now it's on a Social Media and consists of emojis, photos, memes and videos with a bit of writing but basically not that much or maybe in short bursts if you use Messenger or texts.

Facebook used to be a good way for me to keep in touch with my friends from different parts of the world we have previously lived in but not so much now as we all just don't share as much on it and with the inclusion of so many Facebook Groups and Pages there is now so much in our feed we don't get offered all of our Friends contributions any more.

We end up not having real conversations with our friends and sometimes not even having a Facebook conversation with our real friends but instead it's a Facebook conversation with Facebook Friends.

Let's have some real conversations and get to know each other better.

Photo from BigStock Images

When was the last time we just sat down together with a friend and had a coffee and a chat?

Are we still up-to-date with how our friends are, truly are?

It's easy, let's do it more often, much more often.

I've got the Coffee! Let's have a Conversation!

So let's say to someone "I've got the coffee! Let's have a Conversation!" and invite them over.

What's on our Bookshelves? - Coffee & Conversation.

Do you enjoy reading?

Do you have a lot of books?

I have 5 bookcases in my study:

1 completely full of Christian novels;
another has Christian novels, devotionals and Bible Study books;
the third has bibles, commentaries, biographies and my Agatha Christie collection (Heron Books);
the fourth has language books, photo albums, map books and my hoard of books to use for the Sunday School Curriculum for Church;
the last one has the rest of my non-Christian novels by various authors but quite a few of Nelson DeMille, Jeffrey Archer, John Grisham, Brad Melizer, Linwood Barclay & Lee Child.

We have lived in 8 different houses since we got married and each time we move we have all these books to pack up and then find the right places in the next home for the bookshelves.

We keep saying that one day we should be thinking of downsizing so where will we put the books then?

If they were all available as ebooks would we throw them out and buy them as ebooks?

I know I would be tempted to keep my nice matching Agatha Christie novels at least as I really am enjoying sitting in the sun room with my hardback copies of these as I read through them all in Chronological Order and then review them here on the blog.

My husband and I read a lot of the same books, just as we watch a lot of the same TV series and this was always very handy when it came to travelling as we took the books we both wanted to read and shared them instead of each packing our own.

Now of course it is so much handier to just carry our iPads and Kindles and we don't have to spend time beforehand deciding on the joint book list.

The only problem now is that not all the Christian novels we would like to collect are in ebook form.

We also find that those which are available as ebooks are very expensive compared to other novels.

However I do like to keep an eye out through Twitter and Facebook for any indication of free offers on ebooks or reduced prices and swiftly go on Amazon to snap them up.
One way is to try HERE

The great thing about ebooks (apart from the fact that they are easy to carry around in the kindle or iPad) is the fact that you don't need extra bookshelves to store them in, well not real ones anyway.

"Is a book in your hand better than an ebook?"

My oldest son says a book in your hand is so much better than an ebook.
He is worse than us as he has a full wall of his apartment lined with books from floor to ceiling, plus another bookshelf on the wall beside this, then some boxes of books under his bed and of course we must not forget the several boxes of books he still has in our house under the snooker table.

This is like the Daddy.......Chips? question I mentioned in a previous post.

Books........Ebooks? Which is it to be?

If you are interested in some recommendations for your book shelves - here are some of my favourites:

The Blue Bottle Club by Penelope Stokes

The Presence by Davis Bunn

The Panther by Nelson DeMille

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

8 Pet peeves! - Coffee & Conversation

I know you are more like me than you think you are.

I know you have some Pet Peeves.

Here are 8 of my Pet peeves.

Disclosure: they may have been rather influenced by not getting my full night's sleep.

1. People who park where they shouldn't so that it is difficult for the people who should be able to park there to get a spot.

2. People who say you never told me that when you know you have but they don't pay proper attention.

3. People who say they told you something when it was really the other way round.

4. People who start telling you about something you should do when you had told them about that ages ago.

5. People who leave everything to the last minute.

6. Movies made from books but the endings or even more than that are changed, the book was good because of how it was written and the outcome so why change it.

"I've got 8 Pet Peeves today!"

7. Dogs who bark early in the morning and wake me up.

8. Husbands who wake you up 10 - 20 mins before your alarm is due to go off and you know you have no chance of getting back to sleep, why do I have to miss out on that last bit of sleep? Makes for a bad start to a Saturday morning, and this is from the man who has shared nearly 39 years of Saturday mornings with me.

Feel Free to list some of your Pet Peeves in the comments.

I Wish People Would ..... - Coffee & Conversation

If you are a regular reader here or have stopped by my blog a few times then you may well know how much I Love Coffee & Chocolate.

Well at the moment I'm trying to cut down on the chocolate but .... well not so much on the coffee.

I enjoy a large mug of coffee to sit and sip on when I'm checking my emails and sorting my ToDo lists in the morning & you also probably know how much I Love Lists and depend on them.

I do a lot of reading which is another Coffee Break Time and a lot of thinking so I thought I might do a new series on

where I just talk a little about what is on my mind.

Today I'm starting with some things that "I Wish" about people.

Pages