Who is Stazjia?
I have two dogs, a springer spaniel and a cavalier King Charles spaniel. My two daughters are now grown up and both live in London, about 100 miles away.
My interests are travel, history, the environment and healthy living. I love to read particularly murder mysteries, thrillers, real science fiction (not so much fantasy), travel books, the back of cereal packets if I can't find anything else to read because I'm a real book addict.
I love writing too and I particularly like making Squidoo Lenses. I find the format and tools encourage me to write more than when faced with a regular HTML webpage. I've been commissioned to write articles for magazines here in the UK and also to write a couple of books. Now I'm not as healthy as I was and am semi-retired but I can't give up writing and researching for articles so I do it all online now because I can't guarantee I'd be well enough to meet magazine deadlines.
Contents
- Sand in my Shoes
- London
- Every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way
- Help for Unhappy Families
- Historic English Towns, Cities & Other Places
- Get out as early as you can...
- England and the English
- Books about England
- You can only decide how you're going to live
- About Me
- English Seaside Towns
- Environmentally Important Places in England
- Books and Writers
- Children's Novels and Stories
- Poetry
- Christmas
- Chocolate
- Food and Drink
- Books about Food
- Designers
- Animals
- Antiques and Collectables
- The Art & Design Group
- Books about Collectables
- Gardening
- Other Lenses
- Latest News of My Lenses
- Any Comments on my Lensography?
Sand in my Shoes
A holiday photo of me at the seaside aged about 3
From when I was a small child my parents, particularly my mother, had sand in their shoes. I was born in November 1948 so they had gone through the Second World War and maybe that was the reason they were so restless. My father had spent the war in the RAF (Royal Air Force) and my mother was a civil servant working in central London right through the Blitz and later bombing. She also trained as a St John's Ambulance volunteer and went out with a doctor after air raids to help victims of the bombing. She saw some terrible things and still finds it traumatic to talk about that time.
The first place I remember living was just outside Windsor but we moved from there when I was about 5 or 6 years old. I remember I went to the infants school in Windsor but had to go to a new school when we moved to Slough, a town not far away. Within a year or two we moved again, this time to a London suburb, then to Clevedon in Somerset, then back to a different London suburb. Our next move was to Paignton in Devon. By this time I was ten years old, my younger brother seven and the youngest brother was about 6 months old.
All through this time, my brother and I kept changing schools. We had to keep making new friends and catch up with changes in the curriculum as they varied a bit between schools. I took my 11+ exam in Paignton. This determined whether I was accepted by the more academic grammar school or a secondary modern. It was almost impossible to go to university if you went to a secondary modern. I was lucky and passed the exam.
I went to Churston Ferrars Grammar School, situated between Paignton and Brixham. Although my parents moved us all again it was only from Paignton to Brixham so I didn't have to change schools although my brother did. The next move took place in August 1964, a few months before my 16th birthday.
My mother was determined to live in another country. First of all she wanted to go to South Africa but then decided on the USA. My father was a chef and got a job at a restaurant in California about 50 miles southeast of Los Angeles. They put our house on the market, sold a lot of the furniture and packed everything we were taking with us.
A school photograph of me aged about 13 in my school uniform
I didn't want to go. I was due to take my GCE exams the following year and without these my dreams of going to university would come to nothing. I screamed, argued and sulked but nothing would change my mother's mind or even get her to postpone it for a year. You can probably tell I've never really forgiven her and I've tried, believe me, I've tried.
We travelled to New York by liner on the SS United States. Just to add to my woes, I was seasick the whole way. It lasted just a few months. My mother hated it there. Funnily enough my younger brother and I loved it and made friends. My youngest brother was young enough to accept and enjoy it too. In January 1965, we travelled back to England on the ship the Queen Elizabeth (the one before the QEII) which was a fabulous ship. I took travel sickness pills and was fine.
We went to live in Bournemouth - another new school, but this time I was months behind everybody else in my preparations for the exams. I hated the new school, it was a bit late to make friends although people were friendly but they had spent years forming their little cliques and it was difficult to join them. I left school at the age of 16 and had to wait fifteen years to go to college and get my degree.
This rootless, restless childhood probably gave me an interest in new places, maybe because the quicker I got to know them, the more settled I felt - until we moved again. That is probably why I like writing about places in England now.
London
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St Paul's Cathedral, London
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St Paul's Cathedral is one of London's most famous buildings. It may come as a surprise to learn that, although there has been a cathedral on the spot for 1700 years, the present building is only just over 300 years old. It has been used for major s...
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Central London's Popular Landmarks
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One of the great things about visiting London is that if you go to Trafalgar Square, you are within easy reach, on foot, by bus or on the London Underground of some famous and not so famous London landmarks. For example, for art lovers, the National...
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Who Are London Cockneys?
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When you hear of Londoners, you probably think of Cockneys but not everybody who is born or lives in the capital city is a Cockney. The tradition has been that it only applied to somebody born within the sound of Bow bells. There are traditions and...
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Enjoy Visiting London
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Like many big cities, London can be quite intimidating for first-time visitors. Which areas are safe? What is the best way to travel around London? Are all the historic attractions expensive to visit? What are the pitfalls and dange...
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Tower of London
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The Tower of London is one of the capital's best known and most popular visitor attractions, as well as a World Heritage site, but it's had a long and bloody history. It had a dark and sinister reputation, although it was used as a palace for a while...
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Hampton Court Palace, Near London
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Hampton Court Palace, situated about 15 miles south west of Central London, has seen many dramatic events in its 500 years of history and there are many reports of ghosts. It is a popular place to visit both with Londoners and visitors to the capita...
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Dick Whittington: Truth or Legend?
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The legend of Dick Whittington is the archetypal 'country boy comes to the big city and makes good' story. It is well known to most people in the UK and is performed on stage regularly as a pantomime during the Christmas period. It is also a popular...
Every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way
To put it in a nutshell, my mother and father fought like cat and dog. It wasn't physical, nobody hit the other but there was a lot of screaming and shouting.
Until I was nine and a half it was just one brother who was a bit more than two years younger than me. Then my youngest brother was born. My brother and I shared a bedroom until brother 2 was born.
My brother number one and I at the circus, no that's not my brother on the boy's shoulder!
My parents' fights would usually start late at night after we were in bed. We would be woken up by the screaming and shouting. Eventually our bedroom door would open, my mother would come in screaming, my father would come in after her. She'd say "Don't hit me, don't hit me". He would say he hadn't hit her but she was pushing her luck. Meanwhile brother 1 and I were cowering in our beds crying. My mother would even get us out of bed and hide behind us, using one of us as a human shield. This would go on for some time. Then my father would storm out of the room, slamming the door. My mother would cry hysterically, telling us what a bad person he was, then sleep in one of our beds.
To set the record straight - to my certain knowledge, my father never laid a finger on my mother. Both my brothers agree with this.
There would be some slamming of doors and sulking the next day then I guess they went to bed the following night and they made up because everything would be all lovey dovey for a short while.
Every Christmas was a nightmare because there would always be a huge row. We learned to sincerely hate Christmas and I've never spent the holiday with my family (I mean mother, father, brothers) for more than 30 years. The mere idea sends me into a real panic.
These rows are my very earliest memories, right back to when I was a very small child and it continued till I left home at the age of 18.
As I got older, I'd lock myself in the bathroom and sit on the loo (toilet) for as long as I could. I actually trained myself to use the toilet when stressed. Even after I left home, a row would act like a laxative on me. I've outgrown that now, thank goodness.
When I was a young child, I thought it was my father's fault, after all it only happened when he got home from work (of course it did, even my mother couldn't row on her own!). As I mentioned above my father was a chef and worked long hours. Like many chefs he drank more than he should but he was never paralytic or a nasty drunk. He'd just get a bit silly and funny and he was always an easy going, humorous man, drunk or sober.
As I got older, in my early teens, I noticed my father would come home maybe 9pm from work, my mother would start nagging him and provoke a row. He'd storm off out and go to the pub (bar), come home drunk. Then there'd be a humdinger of a row.
Looking back, I can see that she was extremely possessive and hated to let my father out of her sight. She was also very controlling, not just with my father but with me and my brothers too. It didn't stop when we grew up either. She'd get very upset if she thought we should do something and we didn't.
My father always said the reason she wanted to move abroad was because he was settled in his job as head chef at a good hotel in Devon. He was making friends and could go angling - he even won a prize for the biggest conger eel caught in the area. My mother, in contrast, never made friends. We never had people round to dinner or parties, except for my mother's family. She was dead set on going to the USA, then she hated it when she got there because it wasn't like England!
I'll write more about this in the next installment. I'll tell you what happened to their marriage and what I did next.
Help for Unhappy Families
Bad Childhood---Good Life: How to Blossom and Thrive in Spite of an Unhappy Childhood
Amazon Price: $10.04 (as of 11/08/2009) 
Unhappy Children: Reasons and Remedies
Amazon Price: (as of 11/08/2009)
When Anger Hurts Your Relationship: 10 Simple Solutions for Couples Who Fight
Amazon Price: $11.53 (as of 11/08/2009)
A Family That Fights
Amazon Price: $15.99 (as of 11/08/2009)
Conflict: Why Do We Fight? How Do We Stop? (You Asked for It Mini-Books)
Amazon Price: (as of 11/08/2009)
Historic English Towns, Cities & Other Places
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Salisbury, Wiltshire's Cathedral City
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Salisbury Cathedral's famous spire is the first glimpse that most people have approaching this city. A quintessential English scene, it has been painted by many famous artists, including Constable, and engraved by Whistler. It's origins are lost in...
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Stonehenge and Nearby Prehistoric Sites
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The county of Wiltshire, in the south-west of England, is most famous for Stonehenge, the stone circle where Druids still celebrate the summer solstice. Then there are the huge Avebury stone circles, among which a village has been built. Other assoc...
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Chester, England - Medieval City
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Chester, county town of Cheshire, in the north west of England, stands on the River Dee, not far from both Liverpool and North Wales. The city is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country because it has kept many of its medieval fe...
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Legendary Glastonbury in Somerset
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Glastonbury, Somerset in South West England is heavily associated with the legends of King Arthur and Camelot. There are many other legends connected to the town and its surrounding area. This has made it a centre for 'new age alternative' culture an...
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The Historic City of Bath, England
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I moved to Wiltshire, just 12 miles from Bath, in 1993. Since then I've fallen in love with this beautiful city in south-west England. We still live in Wiltshire although much further away from Bath but I still visit it often. It is popular with vis...
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Windsor and Eton, Berkshire
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Windsor is an ancient town in southern England, just about 23 miles from London. It is dominated by its famous castle, home of royalty for almost a thousand years. It is reputed to be the favourite home of the present Queen and it is said that she wa...
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Historic City of York, England
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York, the county of Yorkshire's major city and a magnet for visitors from all over the world. They are attracted by the quaintness of the streets, the city's beauty, York Minster and the city's long history which includes Romans, Angles, Vikings and...
Get out as early as you can...
My daughter and I in 1970
My little girls were everything to me and I loved them so much and still do. I never found looking after them difficult or onerous.
The same could not be said of my marriage. I was too young and, looking back, I imagined I was in love with him. I was really convinced, though. It wasn't an act but hindsight is a wonderful thing. Of course, I wanted to escape from my parents' terrible marriage and the stresses of home. I also didn't know what to do with my life because my ambitions had come to nothing.
After five years, the marriage came to an end.
Just a couple of years before that, my parents had split up. I received a telegram (no phone still) asking me to phone my mother urgently which I did. My father, she said, had left her for a much younger woman, in fact, a woman just 3 years older than me. Well, that was a bit of a shock. My mother was hysterical, so my husband, two little girls, and I got in the car and drove 200 miles to see her. They had been leasing a flat and the lease was just going to run out. My husband said that my mother and two brothers had better come back with us so that's what happened. They stayed with us for about a year.
I'm not happy, I'm climbing the steps of the Eiffel Tower, Paris,
on a very hot day. 1984
My father was very happy with her. They had the occasional row, just like any other couple, but not the kind of fights I remembered from my childhood. My father died too soon at the age of 65 but he had about 20 happy years and another daughter, my beloved half-sister who I've seen grow up.
My mother married again but this was another stormy relationship. She will be 86 in January 2009. My step-father died in June 2007 after a long illness. He was much loved by us all.
My mother is even more difficult now and alienates everybody around her. It's like she has to have fights with people to keep going. It's terribly sad because she makes herself the unhappiest of all. The rest of us get on with our lives and see her and phone her regularly but not for too long otherwise she'll want to pick an argument.
As for my career - probably with the changes in schools in the UK, it might be just as well I never became a teacher. I wouldn't be able to tolerate the behaviour of many children nowadays. On the other hand, I might well have become headteacher (principal) of a school because I have the drive and ambition.
Instead, I managed to move from store work to office work, went to college and took a degree in Geography. I started my own business in 1988 then gradually moved into freelance writing. I write almost as compulsively as I read.
The title of this part, "Get out as early as you can," is from a poem by Philip Larkin called This be the Verse. WARNING! Be prepared for some very strong language.
England and the English
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English Food Explained
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We English have had a terrible reputation for our cooking. I don't believe it's truly deserved especially if it was being judged by food served in our homes in years gone by. In fact, our reputation for bad cooking made us a real joke in France wher...
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Traditional English Recipes
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Traditional English food is often described as 'good plain cooking', particularly by the people who like it. In fact, most of us over about 30 or 40 years old have been brought up on it in the days when home-cooked meals were a regular occurrence. A...
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Meet the English
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If you visit England, you may have preconceived ideas of what the English are like, although some of these may be quite contradictory. Are they upper class lords and ladies or servile peasants and servants tugging their forelocks? Maybe they are mos...
Books about England
Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour
Amazon Price: $12.21 (as of 11/08/2009)
London (EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDE)
Amazon Price: $16.50 (as of 11/08/2009)
York Minster
Amazon Price: (as of 11/08/2009)
Windsor Ablaze!: The Windsor Castle Fire and Restoration
Amazon Price: $17.23 (as of 11/08/2009)
The Isle of Avalon Sacred Mysteries of Arthur and Glastonbury
Amazon Price: $17.05 (as of 11/08/2009)
You can only decide how you're going to live
My dog Saffy, an English springer spaniel
I believe that is true to some extent. I had a difficult childhood but plenty of people had much worse ones. I couldn't let my childhood define my whole life and then repeat the mistakes of my parents.
Not all my memories of childhood are unhappy. I was lucky because my mother's family loved me a lot and never stopped showing it. My aunt recently told somebody else how much she adored me when I was a child and that was something I felt from my aunts, uncles and grandparents. My uncles and aunts are all elderly now but they still show me a lot of love. Of course, I adore them right back.
I was also fortunate because I am a naturally optimistic person with a good sense of humour and the ridiculous. This has helped me more than anything else. I can even make people laugh with just a look and a raised eyebrow. I also do impromptu comic monologues when something strikes me as funny or silly. When that happens, they usually just come out of my mouth and I have people laughing themselves sick. Enough bragging!
The worst effect of my childhood I would say is that it has made me distant with people and a bit standoff-ish until I know them well. I don't have lots of friends, just a few good ones. There are plenty of people that I'm friendly with but they aren't close relationships.
The beach on the Caribbean island of St Maartens.
I visited it during a cruise in 2004,
the best vacation of my life.
Because of my unhappy childhood, I can't stand other people being unhappy. I have to try to help them any way I can. I will drop everything if somebody needs help. This is not a virtue it's a compulsion born out of my experiences.
I've been diagnosed with a chronic condition which probably means I'm not going to make old bones, as we say here, but I've had fun in my life even if it didn't start in the best way possible. I've taken risks and some paid off and some didn't but at least I don't regret not doing something. I don't want to die thinking "If only I'd taken a risk and done ...."
In spite of hardly ever drinking alcohol, for quite sometime my guiding principle has been 'Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"'
About Me
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My Life in Antiques
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I got involved with the UK antiques trade at the end of 1977. I was offered a job on a specialist antiques newspaper compiling a weekly antiques auction calendar for publication and to help selling advertising space to auctioneers. Then I had no int...
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I Had a Mini-Stroke and What Happened After
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I've thought long and hard before writing this lens. It's about my health and it's something I never discuss except with those very close to me. Even then, I talk about it infrequently. When I had a mini-stroke or TIA (transient ischemic attack) it...
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Maybe Queen Saved My Life
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In 1984 I was deep into a year long major depression. I wasn't really interacting with people around me, my internal landscape was a black desert with the leafless remains of dead trees. As part of the depression, I was concentrating on losing weight...
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My Father - In Memoriam
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As old as I am now, my father is still Daddy to me and always will be. Somehow 'Dad' doesn't feel right, it doesn't reflect the love I still have for him even though he died 22 years ago. I still miss him so much. He was what we call here in the UK,...
English Seaside Towns
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England's Seaside Towns
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When I was a child in the 1950s, only the very wealthy went out of the UK for holidays (vacations). The rest of us went to English seaside towns. After the schools closed for the summer at the end of June, families prepared for their annual migration...
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Brixham - a Pretty Fishing Town
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I spent my early teenage years in Brixham, the pretty, little fishing town on the south side of Torbay, opposite Torquay. Although it's more than 40 years since I lived there, I still have a soft spot for the place. It is a working fishing port wit...
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New City of Brighton and Hove
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Brighton and Hove have formed a single conurbation for many years now. Brighton still appears much racier than the more genteel and sedate Hove but, even so, you would be hard pressed to know when you are crossing from Brighton into Hove. In 1997, as...
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Blackpool: Sand, Sea and Fun
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Blackpool, in the north-west of England, is one of the country's most famous seaside resorts and it was almost literally built on fun. From the introduction of the railways in the 19th century right up to the 1960s and 1970s, it has attracted working...
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Torquay - South Devon
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Torquay is the largest of the three main towns on Torbay on the south coast of Devon in the south of the UK. Torquay stands on the northern side of the bay, Paignton is in the middle and the smallest, Brixham, is on the south side. The three towns ar...
Environmentally Important Places in England
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Dartmoor, Devon
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Dartmoor was designated as a National Park in 1951 and covers an area of 368 square miles. The landscape ranges from lovely wooded valleys to desolate but beautiful wild moorland interspersed with rocky tors. There are areas of bogs and rough pasture...
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The Importance of the New Forest, Southern England
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The New Forest, in Hampshire, Southern England, is the largest tract of lowland common land in Britain making it of great importance for the environment and conservation as it covers a range of habitats from boggy valley bottoms to dry heathland. Du...
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Ancient Somerset Levels
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In the heart of the county, the Somerset Levels and Moors are an internationally important wetlands habitat. Across the area, 25ft above sea level is the maximum height attained. A coastal clay ridge protects the area from sea flooding. The moors usu...
Books and Writers
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Oscar Wilde Meets his Fate
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Oscar Wilde (16 October 1854 - 30 November 1900) was one of the most successful men of the late 19th century. Born in Dublin, Ireland, into an Anglo Irish professional family, Oscar Wilde was famous as a playwright, poet and for his great wit. He we...
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The Revelation Space Universe
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The Revelation Space Universe was created by science fiction author Alastair Reynolds. It is the setting for most of his novels and short stories and takes its name from his first novel. It is also one of my favourite SF series of books. The novels...
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Bleak House
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Bleak House is a satirical look at the complicated legal system in London as it consumes the minds and talents of the greedy and nearly destroys the lives of innocents. Dickens's tale takes us from the foggy streets of 19th century London and the ma...
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Wilkie Collins: Inventor of the Crime Novel?
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Most famous for his novels The Moonstone and The Woman in White, writer Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) has been credited with inventing the detective novel genre although most of his books could be described as 'sensation novels'. In fact, it's probably...
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The Life & Works of Rudyard Kipling
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For many years Rudyard Kipling has been deeply unfashionable. He's been accused of jingoism, imperialism and racism as typified by this poem The White Man's Burden. Take up the White Man's burden- Send forth the best ye breed- Go, bind your sons to e...
Children's Novels and Stories
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The Dark is Rising
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This sequence of five novels, is a favourite of adults as well as children. They are among the few special books like The Hobbit and the Harry Potter novels which bridge this gap. Like those, The Dark is Rising Sequence of books are fantasy novels....
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The Wind in the Willows
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This classic tale about animals of the riverbank has delighted children and adults for 100 years with the adventures of Mr Toad, Ratty, Mole and Badger. It is a lovely story with excitement but without being too frightening. It can open the door to...
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Thomas the Tank Engine - Evergreen Favorite
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I wonder if, when the Reverend Wilbert Vere Awdry wrote the first story, he would have believed how his tales of Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends would still be going strong in the 21st century, more than sixty years later. Like many other chi...
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Richmal Crompton, author of Just William
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Although Richmal Crompton wrote 41 novels for adults and 9 collections of short stories, it was her 'William' stories about an 11 year old boy and his gang the 'Outlaws' that she is remembered for. Even during her long life, much to her annoyance, th...
Poetry
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Classic Poems for Kids
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Poems, with their rhythms and rhymes, can engage children's attention while the often vivid images conjured by the words feed their imaginations. Usually, classic poetry has a richness of language, even that written with children in mind, so enlargin...
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Classic Funny Poems for Kids
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I can still remember some of the humorous poems that were read to us children at infants school. Some, like The Jumblies and Matilda (who told such dreadful lies), can still make me smile today. What makes them so memorable? Is it the rhythm and the...
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Favorite Poems about Dogs
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Many families have a dog and they are usually a much loved family member. They bring us pleasure, love and fun. They get us out of our armchairs and away from the television or the computer to take them for walks. It's essential for them and for us t...
Christmas
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Cook the Christmas Turkey
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In Britain, dinner on Christmas Day is usually turkey with all the trimmings. The trimmings are the traditional accompaniments like cranberry or bread sauce, stuffings as well as gravy made from the giblets. On one bird there is enough to feed a larg...
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British Christmas Cakes
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The traditional British Christmas Cake is full of fruit, nuts, and spices, usually with added alcohol in the form of brandy or rum. It's a rich mixture, covered with royal icing (a kind of frosting) and decorated. It's often the centrepiece of the Ch...
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Discover Christmas Collectibles
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Christmas is approaching fast and now is the time to think about gifts. How about buying Christmas collectibles for close friends and families this year? Not only are they interesting and decorative, they could well appreciate in value as well.Additi...
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Christmas Traditions in Britain
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It seems that every country that celebrates Christmas has its own traditions and customs and Great Britain is no different although I believe we share a lot of ours with the USA and Commonwealth countries. Individual families often have their own pa...
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Traditional Christmas Pudding
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The British Christmas Pudding is a very rich traditional dessert, served as part of Christmas Day dinner. Of course, many people just can't manage to eat it then, so often it's served later in the day and for several days following because, unless yo...
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Dieting Over Christmas
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It's difficult to stick to a weight loss diet at the best of times but over Christmas and New Year you may feel it is impossible. It takes just 500 excess calories a day for a week to gain one pound in weight and at Christmas it is easy to overeat....
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Christmas and Non-Believers - Should they celebrate it?
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Some Christians are offended by the secular nature of Christmas now. It seems to some to have lost it's religious meaning. At the same time, non-Christians see Christmas as a festival that celebrates family and friendship. I guess most people fall s...
Chocolate
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Chocolate Recipes for Christmas
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Celebrations are a time that everybody wants their favourite food and for most people that includes chocolate. Of course, these recipes are very popular at Christmas - the big family occasion but most can be used for any important occasion. Some tak...
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Chocolate Fruit Pudding
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The familiar dome of a steamed pudding is usually greeted with pleasure in most British homes. Because fewer people cook nowadays, they are sold in supermarkets and still enjoyed by most people. They can be either sweet or savoury. The most famous s...
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Apple and Pecan Brownies
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Award from The Hungry Squidz With Thanksgiving coming up, I'd say that Apple and Pecan Brownies are very appropriate. They are so quick to prepare and easy to bake that anybody can make them. If you are an inexperienced cook, just follow the recipe ca...
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Chocolate and Butterscotch Brownies
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It's true, everybody loves brownies whether they are the regular ones or any of the many variations. This recipe is great because it combines chocolate and butterscotch which go together like coffee and cakes. It's really quick and easy to prepare t...
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Best of Chocolate on Twitter
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Does your mouth water when you look at this chocolate cake? Now you've seen it, are you craving chocolate? If the answer to these questions is 'yes', then you are almost certainly a chocoholic. Feed your addiction by reading the best chocolate tweet...
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Easy Chocolate Recipes
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These recipes are easy to prepare and even easier to eat. After all, there aren't many people who can resist chocolate. They are the kind of cakes you can make anytime - you don't need to wait for a celebration. Put a portion of the Chocolate Apple...
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Chocolate Drinks for Summer
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If you like chocolate, what could be better on a hot sunny day, sitting outside, chatting with friends and drinking a long cold chocolate milkshake or smoothie like the one here? If you are watching your fat intake, skip the piped cream on top, use...
Food and Drink
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Dieting: Lose Weight & Keep It Off
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Almost anybody can lose weight - there are no fat people in a famine nor overweight athletes. The only thing that stops us losing weight is ourselves. It's not enough to stop eating carbs or count calories. Even if we lose all those extra pounds on t...
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Tea - Black or Green
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I'm English so I drink tea all the time. I think it's natural that everybody loves it. It's hard to believe that it's a comparatively recent introduction and for centuries it was largely unknown outside China and Japan. The history of tea is long an...
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Sugar - Friend or Foe?
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Sugar is an intrinsic part of a western diet. It is found in obviously sweet foods like cakes and in less obvious places like baked beans and salad dressings. It provides the preservative for jellies (jams) and makes some foods more palatable. As wel...
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Fruit Harvest Recipes
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What could be better than strolling out into your own garden and harvesting fresh fruit and using it immediately? You can choose not to use chemical fertilisers or pesticides so, not only are they as fresh as can be, they are free from pollutants too...
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Blackcurrants - A Superfood?
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The blackcurrant is another great summer fruit. I love the smell of blackcurrants and their foliage when they are growing in the garden. The berry has a strong, delicious flavour but without being too sweet or cloying. In fact, most people eat it coo...
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Quick Fruit Cakes
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These cakes are quick to prepare for the oven. Preparation should only take a few minutes. Try the recipes and you will see I am right. That's the good news. The bad news is that some fruit cake recipes take quite a while to bake while one of the ones...
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Desserts for Christmas
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There are special occasions, like Christmas, anniversaries, birthdays, christenings and other big occasions, when only a special meal will do to celebrate and that's the time you need a really delicious and fabulous looking dessert. The good news is...
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Preserving Recipes for Summer Produce
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If you have several good apple trees, you will probably find you have more apples than you know what to do with. There is a limit to the number of apple pies, crumbles and other apple desserts you can store in your freezer or give away to friends an...
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Tasty Fish Recipes
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Many children grow up not liking to eat fish which is a shame because there is no doubt that it is a healthy food for both children and adults. The best way to make sure your kids are happy to eat fish is to serve it to them as soon as you are weanin...
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Best of Summer Fruit on Twitter
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Summer is my favourite season for fruit. I love nearly all of it. Raspberries are the best, in my opinion, but then there are strawberries, peaches, apricots, cherries, different varieties of melon, blueberries, blackcurrants and all the rest. The gr...
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Best of Superfoods on Twitter
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The name superfood is usually given to foods that contain a high proportion of micronutrients that are supposed to help our bodies resist or fight illness, including cancer and heart disease. Some people argue that they may also confer other benefits...
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Best of Desserts on Twitter
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Don't you just hate desserts? No, neither do I, unfortunately. They usually look beautiful especially those you see in restaurants and the frozen food section in supermarket. Come to think of it, the desserts in the bakery sections look too good for...
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Recipes for Bananas
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I eat a banana almost every day of my life. I either have it cut up with my breakfast cereal or as part of my lunch. Occasionally, I use them in one of my favourite recipes for bananas. As children, we were often given bananas, sometimes cut up and...
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Raspberries - My Favorite Fruit
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Although I love most summer fruit - strawberries, blackcurrants, blackberries, cherries and the rest, my absolute favorite are raspberries. I will eat them fresh off the bush: - one in my mouth, one in the basket; one, two in my mouth, two in the bas...
Books about Food
The Ultimate Cookie Collection: 499 Scrumptious Cookie Recipes--From Classic Cookies, Brownies and Bars to Holiday Favorites
Amazon Price: (as of 11/08/2009)
Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution: The Complete Guide to Achieving Normal Blood Sugars
Amazon Price: $18.89 (as of 11/08/2009)
2008 Calorie King Calorie, Fat & Carbohydrate Counter
Amazon Price: (as of 11/08/2009)
Designers
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Susie Cooper: A Great Pottery Designer
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How did the youngest child of a middle class family become one of the most influential designers of the 20th century? Although, small in stature, Susie Cooper became one of the giants of 20th century design in a career that spanned more than seventy...
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William Morris, Designer
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As William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones were walking down a street in Oxford in 1853 they were instantly captivated by a painting in a shop window - The Return of the Dove to the Ark by John Everett Millais. It was a turning point in the lives of th...
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Charles Rennie Mackintosh
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Charles Rennie Mackintosh was one of the most influential designers of the 20th century. Multi-talented, he designed buildings, furniture, textiles, interiors and painted unusual and dramatic watercolours. In spite of being probably the most gifted d...
Animals
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Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, London
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London, capital city of Great Britain, has many lost and stray dogs and cats and there are a number of rescue homes for them, many of them run by the RSPCA and other animal charities. The best known of these is Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, situated...
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Bengal Tigers in the Wild
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The Bengal Tiger or Royal Bengal Tiger was once found through a large area of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Tibet and other countries in South East Asia. Now its distribution through these areas is patchy as may be seen from the map below. There were eigh...
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Henry's Biography: A Small Dog's Tale
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This was written before Henry died on Friday, September 25th, 2009, at the age of 11 years and 4 months. He had a stroke and the veterinarian said that there was no chance for him and the kindest thing we could do was to allow her to put him to sleep...
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Saga of Saffy's Paw
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My English Springer Spaniel, Saffy, endured pain and depression when a simple problem developed into something not only more severe but life-threatening. All this because the veterinarian made a misjudgement. If I hadn't disagreed with the vet and in...
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Dolphins Under Threat
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Dolphins are generally one of the favourite animals amongst people worldwide. Because they look as if they are constantly smiling, they make us smile too which put us all in a happier mood even if we are only looking at a picture of a dolphin. We lov...
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How to Have a Beautiful Garden and Pets
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Some keen gardeners think it is impossible to have a beautiful garden and have pets. Dogs can run across flower and vegetable beds, crushing and breaking plants. Many dogs like to dig holes and flower beds are a great place to do this. Both dogs and...
Antiques and Collectables
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Portmeirion Pottery for Collectors
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Botanic Garden is Portmeirion Potteries' most famous design but the company has produced a wide range from the sumptuous to the bizarre. Of course, designer Susan Williams-Ellis is the daughter of Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, the creator of the bizarre...
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Wade Whimsies and Figurines
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The original Wade Pottery in Stoke-on-Trent, England, began in 1810 and took over several companies in the area and in Northern Ireland. It wasn't until the 1920s it started producing figurines and the 1950s when it started its famous Whimsies which...
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Collectible Cornishware Pottery
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With its mild climate and beautiful scenery, Cornwall, England's most south-westerly county, has become famous for its artists and craftsmen including many potters. Ironically, the most famous of the ceramics associated with the county, Cornishware,...
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Collecting Thimbles, Old and New
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Most people who do much hand sewing will own and use a thimble, a simple, utilitarian object worn to protect the finger-tip. For collectors, though, it is much more than that and the thimbles they collect can range from the beautiful to the whimsical...
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Paperweights
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Who can resist paperweights? Made by master craftsmen, they are objects of supreme beauty. Is it any wonder that they were hardly ever used for such a mundane task as securing loose papers? In the 19th century, educated ladies and gentlemen sat at th...
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Toby and Character Jugs
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Love them or hate them, most people can identify a Toby jug. They depict a multitude of characters from historic times to the present day and come in a range of sizes. Popular for more than 200 years, in the 20th century they enjoyed renewed surge o...
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Art Deco - Design for the Modern Age
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Art Deco, popular originally in the 1920s and 30s, took its name from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, an exhibition held in Paris in 1925. There the style was first seen in the work of French designer...
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Collecting Teddy Bears
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Old teddy bears are not just loved by their owners, now they are highly sought after by collectors too with over £100,000 British Pounds being paid for one notable bear. Even though most teddies will not be as valuable, they are still profitable enou...
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Cranberry and Ruby Glass
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Because ruby and cranberry glass is so beautiful and has been made in so many different styles, from the simply elegant to the ornate, it looks good in even the most modern homes. Although its origins go back to Roman times at least, it became very...
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Unusual Novelty Teapots
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Collecting teapots has been growing in popularity for many years and now collecting modern unusual novelty teapots is particularly popular. Many American and British potters specialize in producing weird, wonderful and beautiful teapots, many of whic...
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Care for Antique & Collectible Glass
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Whether glass is valuable in monetary terms or if it's precious for sentimental reasons, the way you handle it and keep it clean can mean the difference between an accidental breakage or other damage and preserving your glass in good condition. Real...
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Should Art & Antiques be Restored or Not?
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Have you ever been to an antiques fair and seen a beautiful desk or table in pristine condition? The top has a shine to rival any mirror. It is impeccable - but that is the problem. The desk or table might be 18th or 19th century and it obviously ha...
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Art Nouveau - A Beginner's Guide
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During the last quarter of the 19th century, many artists and designers were disenchanted and bored with the fussiness of art, design, style and fashion. The first revolution in style was led by the Aesthetic Movement followed by Art and Crafts. Wit...
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Antiques & Collectibles of the Future
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If people in the past hadn't bought good quality furniture, ceramics, glass, and other items, then kept them, loved them and looked after them, there would be very little for the antiques trade to sell. The question for many buyers nowadays is, "Wha...
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My Own Collectibles and Art
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I accidentally stumbled in to the antiques business at the end of 1977. I applied for a job on a specialist antiques newspaper in London, where I lived at the time. When I got the position, I learned about antique dealers, fairs (shows) organisers an...
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Carlton Ware - 20th Century Ceramics
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There is more to collecting British 20th century ceramics than Clarice Cliff and Susie Cooper. One of the growing areas of interest is Carlton Ware, popular with collectors for many years. Its strong, sometimes quirky, designs fit in well with 21st c...
The Art & Design Group
If you have a lens about any aspect of art and design and it meets the criteria, I hope you'll apply to join this group.The Group now has a forum where members can discuss art and design and make suggestions for improving the group.
Books about Collectables
Susie Cooper: An Elegant Affair
Amazon Price: (as of 11/08/2009)
Clarice Cliff and Her Contemporaries: Susie Cooper, Keith Murray, Charlotte Rhead, and the Carlton Ware Designers (Schiffer Book for Collectors)
Amazon Price: $36.68 (as of 11/08/2009)
Collectors' Paperweights: Price Guide and Catalogue
Amazon Price: $25.00 (as of 11/08/2009)
Miller's: Paperweights of the 19th and 20th Centuries: A Collector's Guide (Miller's Collector's Guides)
Amazon Price: (as of 11/08/2009)
Portmeirion Pottery
Amazon Price: (as of 11/08/2009)
Gardening
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Aquilegia - The Columbine
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The aquilegia or columbine is one of my favourite flowers. I love the way it comes in such an amazing variety of colours, the various shapes of the flowers and the way you can find it in the most unexpected places as well as growing in gardens. Its...
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Best of Garden Flowers on Twitter
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Flowers are lovely and can cheer up a miserable day. They are even better when you don't have to spend a lot of money on them because you can just go into your garden and pick them. If you plan carefully, you can have flowers for almost the whole yea...
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Flowering Shrubs for Shade
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In my last garden I had two big trees growing quite close together. This meant they provided shade over about a quarter of the garden. Luckily it was partial shade so it wasn't impossible to find shrubs and other plants to grow nearby. The bigger pr...
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Gardening Jargon: What It Really Means
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You hear gardeners using jargon like 'vigorous' or 'free seeding' to describe the attributes of plants but do these terms describe desirable or undesirable qualities? Should you be pleased when you read that the plants you just bought are 'strong gr...
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How to Have a Beautiful Garden and Pets
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Some keen gardeners think it is impossible to have a beautiful garden and have pets. Dogs can run across flower and vegetable beds, crushing and breaking plants. Many dogs like to dig holes and flower beds are a great place to do this. Both dogs and...
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Moonflowers - Night Blooming Plants
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Imagine sitting in your garden on a warm summer evening, a full moon overhead and beautiful moonflowers blooming nearby with their fragrance wafting on a light breeze. Several different plants are called moonflowers but the one most commonly referre...
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My Favorite Climbing Plants
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Flowering climbing plants are among my all-time favourites in the garden. I've grown them up walls and fences as well as through shrubs and trees. They soften and brighten the look of walls and fences. If your fences or walls are low, put trellis on...
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Mowing Your Lawn
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When lawns in gardens first became fashionable in the 16th century, the only way to cut them was with a scythe, shears or with grazing sheep. The first lawn mower was invented in 1830 and began to be manufactured thirty years later. Of course mowing...
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I Love Lilies
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My best friend doesn't like lilies. She says the look of them and their scent reminds her of funerals. I know what she means but I love them anyway. I love the way they look, the myriad of varieties as both cut flowers and garden plants and I love th...
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Pesticides: Don't Kill the Good Guys
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Imagine waking up one morning and discovering that all the insects and other pests in your garden have disappeared forever - no more slugs and snails, aphids, lily beetles, caterpillars and all those other creatures that chomp their way through your...
Other Lenses
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Stazjia's Stars
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If you are reading this, then I guess you want to be a Giant, one of the stars of Squidoo. You might think, "Me! A Giant - I'll never be able to build 50 high quality lenses, no way!" I thought that once and then I found I'd only got a few more to d...
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The Dissolution of the Monasteries
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By the 16th century many of the monasteries of England and Wales had become rich and powerful institutions. At that time they were all Catholic. They provided employment, charity for the poor, hospitals for the sick and education. Henry VIII had bro...
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The Secrets of a Successful Job Search
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Looking for a new job is usually not easy. Even in prosperous times, it can be stressful to find the right employment but in a recession it can seem like a nightmare. Many employers are laying off workers, others are cutting hours for existing employ...
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Glastonbury Music Festival
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Did you know that The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts is the famous festival's correct name? Maybe you didn't realise that it's not actually held in Glastonbury but on a farm in the small village of Pilton, about a mile south of...
Latest News of My Lenses
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byAny Comments on my Lensography?
AndyPo wrote...
Excellent lensography. You seem to have been to and written about so many places that I know so well. I must read all of your lenses (eventually)
Posted October 31, 2009
KathyMcGraw wrote...
I am going to be right behind you with the wine in one hand and the chocolate in the other, saying I did what I did and enjoyed it :) My funeral song is Frank Sinatras "I did it my way" :) Thank you for sharing your story, and all these great lenses.......which of course would take me till I did to read :)
Posted August 24, 2009
BiciParker wrote...
Thank you for sharing so deeply of your life, especially the more difficult times. You are an inspiration in both your life and your lens-making abilities. My mother's people came from Falmouth. Someday I hope to make it across the Pond.
Posted August 14, 2009
mbgphoto wrote...
I really enjoyed getting to know you through your lensography. You are an excellent writer! Very moving. I have a friend I met through the Girl Scout pen pal program almost 50 years ago. She lives in England, I think in your area of the country (her address is Brockweir Common, Chepstow, Gwent). I have visited her several times. it is a beautiful area!
Posted July 21, 2009
by Stazjia
I am English and I've spent the last 11 years writing freelance for UK magazines, a couple of books and online. More on my Lensography.
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