An elderly Chinese woman had two
large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck.
One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and
always delivered a full portion of water.

At the end of the long walks
from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.
For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home
only one and a half pots of water.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud
of its accomplishments.
But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own
imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been
made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure,
it spoke to the woman one day by the stream.
"I am ashamed of myself,
because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to
your house."

The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that there are
flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side?"
"That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted
flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you
water them."

"For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful
flowers to decorate the table.
Without you being just the way you are,
there would not be this beauty to grace the house."

Each of us has our
own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our
lives together so very interesting and rewarding.
You've just got to
take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.

SO,
to all of my crackpot friends, have a great day and remember to smell the
flowers on your side of the path!

THE BUILDERS TOOK DOWN THE SCAFFOLDING

Today, Monday 27th July - the builders took the scaffolding down - which means they finsihed and no more noise - which is great as they been here since April if not before and it feels like forever.

So once I knew the builders were going for good and no more dust and sand in the air I decided it was window cleaning day and I managed to clean my Patio windows because with the rain and the sand from the builders they looked terrible but all done now.

So although its a normal summers day (for England) not too much sunshine to smear my windows.

Been watching the West Series on TV (Fred and Rose West) - reminders of the trial and everything in the 90s its awful but compelling to watch

New Forest and Lymington

It was a lovely day here yesterday so we decided (planned in advance) to set off for a day out in the new forest and down to Lymington - the weather was great all day and we went to Burley for lunch (lovely in the New Forest) we saw lots of horses, ponys, and other animals - everyone was having great day in the sunshine - walked socks off in Lymington (well felt like it) - I love all the shops there and the harbour area - and left Lymington to come back at 5.30 and half way back it started to rain and we missed it and did not mind it raining on the way back. Well worth a trip in the summer.

Concert at the BIC

Yesterday we went to see Neil Sedaka at the BIC

There he was on his piano - no other musicians - how many artists could do a gig like that - and he entertained us from 8 - 10.30 with a short interval break - he danced, he played his own music - he made us laugh and he came back twice when we called for more. What a star - 57 years in the business - we are so pleased we went to see him live.

I had his record given to me for my 16th birthday - Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen -