Liverpool One

Yesterday we spent the day in Liverpool.
I wanted to see the Titanic exhibition at the Maritime museum
Chris wanted to breath in the calm, ordered and classy air of John Lewis'
The journey along the North Wales coast was reminiscent of something from the sub continent, and we arrived at James Street, knackered and fraught, right in the middle of a torrential rainstorm and the rather noisy start of Liverpool's gay pride march.

Chris " enjoying " Albert dock

Art Deco panel from the liner Mauritania in the maritime museum

And so.......did we don our fairy wings and join in with the pride march with a joint sashay

Did we coco?

We had a very nice lunch in Liverpool One,

And bought a green phone from John Lewis

Thank you very much

The Third Wave of Entries

Rachel's inspired  " tits"

Susan Williams " owl"

Little blue mouse's entry

Dani's Bertil Butternut

Barbara Darling ( love the name ...darling.....) " face"

Tami's " smile"

Keep em coming!

Day Two Entries

I will keep topping up the blog with photos as they come in!
If only the entries for the Flower Show were as forthcoming
( see yesterday's blog for the wonderfully inventive first batch)

Heather Pearsall's hungry Caterpillar

Gayle's cactus ( made from green and red peppers)

M Silvius " Blossom End Rots

Yael's two headed potato

A Whole Load Of Veg

Now you will have to read the previous post in order

to understand the gist of this one

But I am happy to announce that I have received my first competition entry

Yes there is much misery in this world

Yes, we are not quite out of economic Armageddon 

And yes global warming is about to flood us all off the planet

So what does Going Gently ask of its' readers?

Well

MAKE A NOVELTY ANIMAL OUT OF A VEGETABLE AND SEND IN A PHOTO OF IT!

Of course!

Hook nose from Jessie in Alaska

Baby clanger was sent in by Andi this morning

Deloras' owl and ladybird

See previous blog for the details of the competition

All entries will be exhibited at the 

Trelawnyd Flower Show

( locals will be expected to hand in their novelty veg in person btw as this is only

A fun competition for non locals)

Els " fish"

Garlic bulbs " Stan & Gill" by Gill Owens

Butterfly by Hazzy

Claudette Courgette by Simone

" Big Boy" by Cro

Ann Morrison's Henry Moore Tribute

Blog Competition

Els over in the Netherlands ( don't ask me it's Dutch) has suggested a Going Gently " Trelawnyd Flower Show" competition on the back of the fact that " The Great British Bake Off"  is back on tv next week.
She suggested that bloggers photograph a baking creation of their own , which they could send me
( jgsheffield@hotmail.com)..the best entry would be judged by myself ( of course)
Well this got me thinking
And so, I propose a slightly altered version of this idea

And so
Bloggers, readers and hangers on...please send me a photo of your own " NOVELTY VEGETABLE"
The veg creation has to be all your own work, and not just a nicked photo from google!
To give you an example of the standard I am looking for, please look at the winning entry from last year's show

I will print out all the entries and will ask the veg judge at the Flower Show to mark them for a bit of fun

Any entries will be displayed at the show itself for all the whole village to view

A prize will be given for first and second place!

So dig out your imagination and your cucumbers and get to work......

I will show all entries on Going Gently as and when they come in

Good luck............

All entries have to be submitted by Wednesday 6th Aug

Grief ' n things.....

Today, I had a conversation with someone in the village.
On the surface it was a chat about the aches and pains and hospital appointments that go hand in hand with old age
But essentially it was an honest declaration of grief.
Grief for a life which is now very different to what it once was.
I heard about a clinic visit.
A blood test.
About " one thing after another"
The strangulation of an active life by physical infirmity and deterioration of the senses
There was just a little of justifiable self pity in the conversation.
But the overwhelming sense I got, was a sense of sadness.

Grief often rears it's head before you lose something dear to you.  We have all experienced it in one way or another. A elderly grandmother  with cognitive problems, a brother with motor neurone disease, a dead relationship months before a divorce, a job redundancy.........whatever the reason, grief can strike at anytime and it's not at all about a death......

it's just more common in the old..
Auntie Glad is the lucky one ..... She always says " My health is my wealth"
She's oh so right...

Hey ho...I'll leave you on a lighter note
Old people as they should be

Bake Off

Queen Berry, King Hollywood and the newbees

Next week the hole left by no more The Walking dead

Will be filled.

It won't be filled by anything Zombie

Oh no

But everything, nice and middle class , and sweet and wholesome

Yes next week

The Great British Bake Off 

Returns to our tv screens

I wonder if they'll do scotch eggs?

Vital Art

Sculpture is a little thin on the ground in North Wales.
It's the way of the world.
I do miss visiting the Yorkshire Sculpture Park which is situated on the outskirts of Sheffield- a huge expanse of parkland dotted with an ever changing collection of art sculptures was a favourite Sunday trip out for us, even on the most inhospitable of days.

There is one holocaust memorial sculpture which I would very much like to visit and experience.
On the banks of the Danube in the city of Budapest Sculptors Gyula Pauer and Can Togay  have laid down a harrowing spectical of dozens upon dozens of old fashioned shoes.

The sculpture is a memorial to the hundreds of Jewish civilians murdered by the ruling arrow cross party during the last years of the Second World War. The victims were marched to the banks of the Danube river, forced to strip naked, and then were shot by firing squad....their bodies floating away in the water.
The shoes are a stark, simple and poignant testimony to the atrocity

Here are a few impressive public sculptures
Can anyone tell me where they are?
  

How many can you recognise?