Life Trove: Rosemarie

Showing posts with label Rosemarie. Show all posts

December 28, 2005

Visiting the Saunder's family at Pringle Bay

I do so love this part of the world. So many happy memories of family holidays gone by.

April 25, 2005

Culture galore

Wow, what a great art exhibition. It's all the rage in London at the moment, booked up for months in advance. The story of Whistler (American )and Turner (British), their love affair with painting London landscapes and how they inspired Monet (French) in his impressionist style. We met up with Rosemarie and Nick and spent an exciting two and half hours exploring the paintings.

There were lots of interesting landscapes of London in the 1800's - what an awful place it was with its appalling polution and thick smog. Ironically however, it was the smog that brought Monet back to London over and over - he loved the ephemeral quality it gave the light and the moods it cast over the city. Oh well, i suppose there is a silver lining in everything.

I particularly liked Monet's paintings. My favourite paintings of his were the ones below - both of the Parliament Buildings. There was also an amazing painting from Turner of the Parliamant Buildings burning down in 1834.

It was a wonderful exhibition and Ally was particularly in her element. In her words: "It was an explosion of light and a heady experimentation of colour, combining all my most beloved subjects - namely sunsets and travel." As you can see, she's becoming quite a poet.

My favourites

Parliament Building burning down

April 11, 2005

Weekend in Jersey

We spent a wonderful weekend with Rosemarie and Nick in Jersey this weekend. Nick has changed companies recently, requiring a move from Guernsy and they are settling in. It was great to spend some qulaity time with R&N. And Jersey really impressed us with some gorgeous coast line and open spaces. It's a great island.

On Friday night, we went to a local performance of Carousel - a great "Rogers and Hammerstein" musical. We recognised lots of the songs without ever having realised they come from this particular musical. I'd like to see some more of their musicals now - particularly South Pacific which I remember watching as a kid (and being blown away - it was my first ever musical) but haven't seen again since. They also wrote King and I and Oklahoma to name but a few.

Aren't Rosemarie's ear muffs cute! I only realised when we had got home that I hadn't got any photos of Nick. He was on top form this weekend - making us all laugh all weekend long. He's a bit like Gramps - always full of funny stories. He has been in amateur dramatics for many years - and we got to see some great video footage of him in some of his previous musicals including Carmen, Carousel, Oklahoma and Carmen.

September 12, 2004

Visit to Buckingham Palace

We went to visit the inside of Buckingham Palace with Rosemary, Nick and Sally. Wow, what opulent banquet halls - quite exquisite. The palace has 500 rooms and 78 bathrooms, so I doubt the queen and her hubby ever have rows about who takes a shower first or who is taking up the most cupboard space.

August 09, 2004

A weekend in Guernsey

Puffin Air

It was off to Guernsey this weekend to spend time with Rosemarie and Nick. What a great weekend we had. I was immediately impressed with Aurigny, the airline with whom we flew, because their symbol is a Puffin, one of my favourite birds. We didn't see any puffins this weekend but apparently there are plenty of them on island, so next time i come, i'll definitely have my bins on me!

Nutters!

Rosemarie and Nick were as wonderful as ever and it was brilliant to spend some time with them. They took us to their favourite fish and chip restaurant where the fish very much lived up to its reputation. The restaurant had a great sense of humour. On the menu were the words: Food may contain, be cooked by and be served by nuts! (and enjoyed by us nuts too I might add..) We then went off for a brisk swim in the ocean, an important landmark as it was Nick's first dip in the Guernsey sea.

What a lovely pair of Scollops

Saturay nignt, Rosemarie and Nick went out to watch Shrek some friends (which they loved) but we opted for a quiet evening together. Went to a quaint pub restaurant for local scollops (delicious) and Ally wore a new dress. Lovely she looked...

A Sunday Stroll

Sunday it was off for a brisk stroll. As you can see, the roads in Guernsey are very narrow and quaint. The island really does have a delightful atmosphere, especially with it's mix of English and French influences.

The Navigators

We left the important role of navigation to the girls but never found the elusive reservoire we were heading for. But never mind, we found something far more exciting and historic...

The German Bunker

A tiny gap in the hedge piqued our interest. Nick and i being the boys we are dived in to explore - and found it led to a brilliantly disguised second world war bunker set deep in the thicket. It was fascinating to explore a slice of history. Guernsey was occupied by the Germans during the war and the island is riddled with German defense structures. If you look at the photo on the left, you'd never know there is a bunker set in the hedge. The view through the peep hole was panaramic; you could understand why the Germans chose this spot...

The intrepid explorer

To get into the bunker, we had to climb up a small "chimney" Here's Nick making his way back down. The girls stayed on the road and let the boys be boys...

Guernsey Castle

After a delicious lunch (we haven't eaten so well in a very long time!) where we met two lovely friends of R&N, we went for a drive around Guernsey and got to see some great views. Here is a view of the local castle. We look forward to exploring the island in more detail in the future. Thanks to R&N for a great weekend - they always make us feel like family.