Staying with Grandma - my Derbyshire Gather drabble
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The CBB -> Ste Therese's House
#1: Staying with Grandma - my Derbyshire Gather drabble Author: Pat, Location: Doncaster PostPosted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 12:29 pm
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“The hills are alive with the sound of music” Joey sang in her clear chorister-like voice. She had been to see the film recently on one of her trips to Interlaken, mostly it has to be said at the insistence of her children. It was better than she had expected, and the fact that she recognised many of the locations had helped enormously. The golden notes echoed back around the Auberge, and she grinned. Then the fairy-like notes gave way to a far more prosaic sound, as the echoes repeated the low baaing of one of the mountain sheep that grazed the shelf. Joey giggled and turned to her grandchildren clustered around her.
“Serves me right,” she said. “I should know better than to try and compete with the local sheep, shouldn’t I?”
Martin and Sophie giggled in delight. They had a nickname for their Grandma that they innocently believed was sacred to them, though of course their parents, Len and Reg Entwistle, knew. They had told Jo, who had thrown back her head and laughed with delight. They called her ‘Silly Grandma’ because she was always playing silly games with them, and didn’t behave like a Grandma at all. Or at least, not like any of their friends Grandmas. They were staying with her while their parents were on a second honeymoon, and Jo was taking them to all her favourite places around the Gornetz Platz. Len and Reg had moved to England soon after the wedding, wanting to start their married life as independently as possible, and they had settled near Chesterfield. Len taught part time at a nearby Catholic boarding school, and Reg worked in the big hospital in Chesterfield. Both children thought that a holiday with Grandma and Grandad far better than being dragged around the various Derbyshire well-dressings, which were an obsession with their parents.
Jo had taken them both over the Chalet School soon after their arrival, in the hope that it would inspire Sophie with a desire to go there herself. She knew that Len and Reg could afford the fees, for it had been decided at a family Board Meeting that the next generation of the clan would have to pay to go to the school, as there were too many to be accommodated with free schooling. This left each member free to choose a different school of course, though most of the girls still came. Sophie had taken the bait very early on in her tour, and Jo had high hopes of seeing more of her eldest Granddaughter. Martin already knew that he would be going to Polgarth, like his father before him, and was looking forward to it intensely.
“Stop making that awful noise and come and get your coffee,” a voice called from the tables outside the inn. Biddy Courvoisier had lost her brogue long ago, except for a faint echo, and her children had no trace of it of course. Her own children were away visiting with friends, and Biddy had been delighted to come out with Jo for the day. Jo herself had none of the children at home, now that Marie-Claire had gone to university, and she was often lonely. Jack still worked long hours at the Gornetz Hospital that had grown out of the old San when TB lost it’s hold in Europe. His role was more management now, but he still liked to keep his hand in. The three made their way back to the tables and sat down.
“Do you think I shall be able to go to the Chalet School?” asked Sophie.
“That will be up to your parents,” replied Jo solemnly, winking at Biddy. “And to Miss Ferrars. She may not have room for you.”
“Jo Maynard! You a the most terrible tease! Don’t listen to her Sophie. Of course Miss Ferrars will have room for you. But it will be up to your parents. They may want you to go to school in England.”
“Oh I hope they let me. I really, really, really want to be a Chalet School girl!”
Martin just snorted.
#2:  Author: Kat, Location: Abertawe PostPosted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 12:34 pm
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Very Happy

Thank you Pat... are you going to do more? Please? Very Happy
#3:  Author: Alice, Location: London, England PostPosted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 12:48 pm
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Thank you Pat, a lovely insight of the future.
#4:  Author: Fatima, Location: Sunny Qatar PostPosted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 2:44 pm
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Jo has turned into a lovely Grandma! Thanks, Pat.
#5:  Author: Jennie, Location: Cambridgeshire PostPosted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 8:28 pm
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Thanks, Pat, that was lovely.
#6:  Author: KathrynW, Location: London PostPosted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 11:58 pm
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That was fabulous, thank you for posting it Pat!

Kathryn
#7:  Author: Sugarplum, Location: second star to the right! PostPosted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 1:13 am
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That was really lovely.
#8:  Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US PostPosted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 6:02 am
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Thank you, Pat!
*pats the nice bunnies and offers carrots*

Still bewildered by the well dressings though. Plaster for a wounded well? Something like a maypole ceremony, with a well in the center? Stonework with a bazillion local varieties, like those drystone walls? Ornamental buckets or pumps?

(The sheep and hills I understood. Laughing)
#9:  Author: Nell, Location: London, England PostPosted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 9:37 am
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Kathy try this website for more information on Well Dressing and what it is and why it happens.
#10:  Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England PostPosted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 6:13 pm
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I love 'silly Grandma' and the reason for the name Very Happy

Thanks, Pat
#11:  Author: Pat, Location: Doncaster PostPosted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 6:32 pm
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Laughing Our granchildren used to call Steve that - for the same reason!!!!
#12:  Author: arky72, Location: Cheshire PostPosted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 9:08 pm
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Pat wrote:
Laughing Our granchildren used to call Steve that - for the same reason!!!!


They called him silly Grandma??????????????????

*giggles madly*
#13:  Author: Pat, Location: Doncaster PostPosted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 9:10 pm
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arky72 wrote:
Pat wrote:
Laughing Our granchildren used to call Steve that - for the same reason!!!!


They called him silly Grandma??????????????????

*giggles madly*


All right! Take it literally then! They called him Silly Grandad really.
#14:  Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US PostPosted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 10:20 pm
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Nell wrote:
Kathy try this website for more information on Well Dressing and what it is and why it happens.

Thanks, Nell! Definitely not something you can figure out by guessing.
The CBB -> Ste Therese's House


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