Throwback Thursday #54 – Raindrops on Roses

This week’s Throwback Thursday ( Maggie and Lauren’s brainchild) prompt comes from Maggie, she said “Welcome back to Throwback Thursday. Lauren had us dressed to the nines last week, so I thought this week we could be a little more casual and relaxed. I thought it would be fun to remember our adolescence and just think about a few of our favorite things.”

This week’s prompt is: Favorite Things Pick any period of your adolescence and think back to all your favorite things. Feel free to elaborate as much as you want.

Who was your favorite relative? Not to play favorites, but who was the person you connected with more than others? Aunt, uncle, cousin, grandparent, or parent? Why were you closest to them?

Apart from Mum and Dad and the family, my favourite relative was not a real relative. My mum’s close friend Aunty George. As I said she was my mum’s best friend. My mum was not a well woman and she was in hospital a lot and I usually got to stay at Aunty George’s house which was a very posh house! She had two daughters and a son and of course Uncle George. I spent lots of time in that house, I even joined the choir at their church and went there with Christine and Kathryn. Yes I loved Aunty George she was kind, patient and taught me a lot!

What was your favorite TV show? Share a clip if you can find one.

The Woodentots

And Ready, Steady Go!

What was your favorite book or favorite family story?

What Katy Did is an 1872 children’s book written by Sarah Chauncey Woolsey under her pen name “Susan Coolidge”. It follows the adventures of a twelve-year-old American girl, Katy Carr, and her family who lived in the fictional lakeside Ohio town of Burnet in the 1860s. Katy is a tall untidy tomboy, forever getting into scrapes but wishing to be beautiful and beloved. When a terrible accident makes her an invalid, her illness and four-year recovery gradually teach her to be as good and kind as she has always wanted. More information at

What was your favorite, song, record, or album. Feel free to share a YouTube video of it.

I loved The Rolling Stones, The Monkeys, The Hollies, Beach Boys, Adam Faith, zombies, well everyone really!
Favourite Album hard but it has to be The Rolling Stones Between The Buttons.

Who was your favorite teacher? What grade were you in and what subject did they teach?
Miss Jones, she taught Geography in senior school.

What was your favorite subject (not teacher) in school?
English.

Who was your favorite (aka best) friend? What things did you do together?

Anne , she was in the year above me and we got a lot of stick from the Nuns and pupils from our year forms. We had lots of fun together staying at eachother’s homes, shopping, going to youth club, listening to music..
Here’s a song that reminds me of Anne.

What was your favorite way to pass the time?

Listening to music and imagining what life would be like. Hanging out with Anne and helping out at the Library.

What was your favorite holiday? How did you celebrate?

Christmas:
I really don’t know how my mum used to produce such wonderful Christmas dinners, for so many people because money was so tight but she really always came up trump’s.
It all started on Christmas Eve when we all went shopping with mum…. We all regardless of age had stuff to carry home. Everything was bought, then it was home and busy in the kitchen…mince pies were made, veg prepped, turkey stuffed, gravey prepared. The Christmas pudding and cake were made weeks before yet always tasted as fresh as if they had been made the day before. As fast as my mum made mince pies my brothers pinched them!
The Christmas decorations and the tree went up on Christmas Eve too, when I was old enough I went to midnight mass with my older brothers and sisters.
We had a tiny kitchen and how we all got in there to help here was a miracle.
Mum’s old gas cooker was very temperamental and often blew up.. nothing worse than singed eyebrows thank goodness.
There were eight of us plus numerous waifs and strays! No one was ever turned away from our door.
I have always followed my mum’s tradions, her menus and her panicks.
Breakfast : scrambled eggs and salmon with buckfizz.
Dinner:
Turkey and Ham or Pork or occasionally Beef. Stuffing, sausage meat, roast parsnips, carrots, sweet potatoes, potatoes, basted with honey.
Coliflower and Broccoli cheese, Brussel sprouts, peas and gravy, Yorkshire pudding, bread sauce and Cranberry sauce, apple sauce and horseradish sauce!
Christmas Pudding, Cheesecake as mice pies.

I remember one year when I was about fourteen years old. Dad was washing up at our Belfast sink ( before they were fashionable) he put the plates on the draining board, we dried them and put them on the dresser behind him. What we didn’t realize was that he was lifting the clean dishes and washing them again 🤣🤣

What was your favorite toy or possession? Doll, camera, radio, bicycle?

My rabbit Osie and teddy Jungles. My best friends and I still have them. Osie’s outfit is made out of one of my Dad’s old socks!

Bonus: What was your favorite adventure? Family trip, amusement park, field trip, or vacation perhaps.

I used to love going with Dad every few weeks to the Barbers. We’d go on the bus and tube to Chiswick Park, dad would have his hair cut and a shave and I would sit and watch. Then he’d buy me an ice-cream from the Italian ice-cream parlour on Chiswick High Street before we went home. I always felt special because it was just me and dad!

© willowdot21. Some but not all of the family. Dad with me at the front.

Song Lyric Sunday: Education, Education, Education.

Jim Adams

Song Lyric Sunday

This week Jim Adams has set up the prompt – Educate, Learn, School, Teach.. I am busy entertaining family today so this is a quick visit and I will be back over the next few days to check out the good music 💜

Forgive me if I am repeating myself, but I hayr school I was bullied and it still bugs me. This song by Regina Specktor really says it all. I personally it’s about a teenager or younger child who has committed suicide rather than cope anymore. The words are just perfect.. school can be a cold lonely place.

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This beautiful song by Dusty Springfield was from her Cameo Album and was released in 1973. That year we were living in Devon and I was expecting our first son. It was not a brilliant time full of moves and stresses… But the birth of our eldest was a boon.

My take on this song is about someone losing a long term ,partner, relative or friend and it’s a beautiful song.

Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien OBE (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), known professionally as Dusty Springfield, was an English singer whose career spanned over five decades. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano sound, she was a significant singer of blue-eyed soul, pop and dramatic ballads, with French chanson, country, and jazz also in her repertoire. During her 1960s peak, she ranked among the most successful British female performers on both sides of the Atlantic. Her image – marked by a peroxide blondebouffant/beehive hairstyle, heavy makeup (thick black eyeliner and eye shadow) and evening gowns, as well as stylised, gestural performances – made her an icon of the Swinging Sixties.

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When I close my eyes I can see your face
Tho’ I try I can’t believe that you are gone
There’s a part of you that’s a part of me
And no matter where I go it comes along
Reminding me of all the good times
And, of course, some of the bad
But then again, some of those hard times
Were the best we ever had
How can I learn to say goodbye
To the only life I ever knew?
Learn to say goodbye to you?
How can I learn to say goodbye?
Tell me how do you expect me to
Say goodbye to you?
When I needed you, you were always there
You were more than love to me, you were a friend
They say that time is all that matters
And to live it while it lasts
But I can’t stop from reminiscing
Or stop living in the past
How can I learn to say goodbye
To the only life I ever knew?
Learn to say goodbye to you?
How can I learn to say goodbye?
Tell me how do you expect me to
Say goodbye to you?
How can I learn to say goodbye
To the only life I ever knew?
Say goodbye to you?
How can I learn to say goodbye?
Tell me how do you expect me to
Say goodbye to you?

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Bradford Craig / Hugo Montenegro.

HAPPY SUNDAY EVERYONE 💜

Throwback Thursday #32 – Report Cards and Progress Reports

Maggie, said :Surprise, surprise! It’s me, pinch hitting for Lauren this week so she could attend a few appointments today. She will be back next Thursday tackling the first of our abbreviated prompts for the month of April.

This week’s prompt is: Report cards and Progress Reports.

You can use the questions that follow to spark your memories or you can answer them as they stand. It is totally up to you.

Looking back now, would you say you were a good, fair, or struggling student?
I was never a good student, or so I was repeatedly told. I believe I did my best but was made to feel I was stupid.
How often were your school efforts reported to your parents?
Constantly or so it seemed.
Did you receive letter grades, i.e. A, B, C, etc?
Yes but I was usually at the lower end of the marks.
Was your behavior reported on your progress reports or report cards?
We had report cards.
In what subjects did you excel and which subjects were a challenge?
I felt I was good at English, Geography, drama. I was not much cop at Maths, or the sciences or gymnastics.
Did you ever try to change your grade? Turning a C into a B for example?
Yes I always tried.
Did you keep any of your report cards?
No.
Did you get rewarded for good grades?
We’d get a word of faint praise for good behaviour.
Punished for ‘bad’ grades?
Yes they’d wipe the floor with us .
Did the subjects you excelled in prove to be where you excelled in life?
As I said I enjoyed English, and I love poetry and to read and write stories.
What was your biggest detraction from your school work?
Lack of self belief.

This is part of Maggie and Lauren’s Throwback Thursday.

Song Lyric Sunday. School Days.

Jim Adams

Its Sunday and time for Song Lyric Sunday hosted as ever by Jim Adams. This week November 28, 2021 – School, College, Education, Class, Degree was suggested by Paula of Light Motifs II.

Well, Brick in the wall covers it all and the words teachers, classrooms, class, education and school are all in the lyrics. Great song and I have great memories of those times. Our eldest was coming up eighteen and huge Pink Floyd fan. We had a party for him and his cake was a black and white brink wall, just like the album cover, I made a small white brick sized cake and labeled it ‘Just another Brick’. He loved it and so did his mates.

“Another Brick in the Wall” is a three-part composition on Pink Floyd‘s 1979 rock opera The Wall, written by bassist Roger Waters. “Part 2”, a protest song against rigid and abusive schooling, features a children’s choir. At the suggestion of producer Bob Ezrin, Pink Floyd added elements of disco.

“Part 2” was released as a single, Pink Floyd’s first in the UK since “Point Me at the Sky” (1968). It sold over four million copies worldwide. It was nominated for a Grammy Award and was number 384 on Rolling Stone‘s list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time“.

The three parts of “Another Brick in the Wall” appear on Pink Floyd’s 1979 rock opera album The Wall. During “Part 1”, the protagonist, Pink, begins building a metaphorical wall around himself following the death of his father. In “Part 2”, traumas involving his overprotective mother and abusive schoolteachers become bricks in the wall. Following a violent breakdown in “Part 3”, Pink dismisses everyone he knows as “just bricks in the wall”.

Bassist Roger Waters wrote “Part 2” as a protest against rigid schooling, particularly boarding schools. “Another Brick in the Wall” appears in the film based on the album. In the “Part 2” sequence, children enter a school and march in unison through a meat grinder, becoming “putty-faced” clones, before rioting and burning down the school.

So here are couple of other songs on the subject! Just because I like them 😃

Kelsea Nicole Ballerini (born September 12, 1993) is an American country pop singer and songwriter. She began songwriting as a child and signed with Black River Entertainment in 2014,^] releasing her debut studio album the following year, The First Time. Her second studio album, Unapologetically, followed in 2017. Ballerini’s first two albums have accounted for seven charted songs on the Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts. She has four No. 1 singles on the latter, starting with her debut single “Love Me Like You Mean It”, which made her the first female artist to send a debut single to the top of that chart since Carrie Underwood in 2006. It was followed by “Dibs” and “Peter Pan“, whose peaks also made her the first female country artist to send her first three singles to the top of that chart since Wynonna Judd. Ballerini’s fourth No. 1 single is “Legends“. Her third and fourth studio albums, Kelsea and Ballerini, were both released in 2020.

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I really like Regina Specktor, she was introduced to me by youngest son , who incidentally has introduced me to some great singer songwriters.

Regina Ilyinichna Spektor (Russian)Регинa Ильинична Спектор, IPA: [rʲɪˈɡʲinə ˈspʲɛktər]; born February 18, 1980) is a Russian-American singer, songwriter, and pianist.

After self-releasing her first three records and gaining popularity in New York City’s independent music scenes, particularly the anti-folk scene centered on New York City’s East Village, Spektor signed with Sire Records in 2004 and began achieving greater mainstream recognition. After giving her third album a major label re-release, Sire released Spektor’s fourth album, Begin to Hope, which achieved a Gold certification by the RIAA. Her following two albums, Far and What We Saw from the Cheap Seats, each debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200. 2016’s Remember Us to Life peaked at 23 on the Billboard 200.

Mayor Bill de Blasio proclaimed June 11, 2019, Regina Spektor Day in New York City. Spektor was also inducted into the Bronx Walk of Fame on May 18, 2019, by Borough President Rubén Díaz Jr.

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I chose the last one as it’s just such a mash up of so many genres and I really like it.

“Graduation (Friends Forever)” (also titled “Friends Forever (Graduation)“) is a song by American pop singer Vitamin C, released as the third single from her self-titled debut studio album (1999). Vitamin C wrote the song as a response to how many friends drift apart soon after graduation from high school. Josh Deutsch co-wrote the song with her and also produced the track alongside Garry Hughes. The song is partly orchestrated, featuring a string arrangement based on Pachelbel’s Canon in D and a vocal appearance from the NYC All-City Chorus. One version of the song contains student interviews from the Class of 2000 of Lyndhurst High School in New Jersey.

Happy Sunday Everyone 💜.

Bonus track by Police!

“Don’t Stand So Close to Me” is a hit song by the rock band The Police, released in September 1980 as the lead single from their third album Zenyatta Mondatta. It concerns a teacher who has a sexual relationship with a student, which in turn is discovered.

The music and lyrics of the song were written by the lead singer of The Police, Sting. The song deals with the mixed feelings of lust, fear and guilt that a school teacher has for a student and the fallout when the inappropriate sexual relationship is discovered by other adults. The line Just like the old man in that book by Nabokov alludes to Vladimir Nabokov‘s novel Lolita, which covers somewhat similar issues. The line was criticised for rhyming shake and cough with Nabokov. Sting replied, “I’ve used that terrible, terrible rhyme technique a few times.”

Before joining The Police, Sting had previously worked as an English teacher. His recollection was that he’d “been through the business of having 15-year-old girls fancying me – and my really fancying them! How I kept my hands off them I don’t know.” He referred to the song’s story progression as “the teacher, the open page, the virgin, the rape in the car, getting the sack.”

In 1993, however, he said of the song’s inspiration, “You have to remember we were blond bombshells at the time and most of our fans were young girls so I started role playing a bit. Let’s exploit that.” In a 2001 interview for the concert DVD …All This Time, Sting denied that the song is autobiographical.

The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS May 1, 2021

Badge by Shelley Krupa.

Hi it’s Saturday and time for LindaGHill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday. #SoCs. This week Linda said :“ Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “may.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!“

The May Day Possession.

May Day, I am carrying Dad’s Lilley of the Valley, a huge bunch. They smell absolutely beautiful. The sky is so blue and there are puffy little clouds floating around.

I am wearing my summer school uniform, so I am still in the junior part of the school. A powder blue pleated dress, a wide yolk at the front topped with a white collar. At the waste a belt that joins buttons at front. My blonde hair is in neat plaits, but as usual the unruly whisps are escaping around my face….that will get me scolded by the nuns. On top of my head is my straw Panama hat with the school badge. I have fresh white knee length socks and my sensible brown sandals.

I walk the two miles to school so proud of Dad’s flowers. Sister Margarite is waiting at the gate, she tells me off because my socks are not quite up to my knees and my unruly hair. I was never in her good books…she always had something to scold me for.

Today though I did not let her upset me, it was the first school Monday in May and time for the May day possession. The statue of Our Lady, Queen of the May was to be carried from the gate at the junior’s part of the school around the roads to the front of the senior school and through to the front lawn outside the main convent house.

I was always so proud because Dad’s flowers were used to decorate the statue’s head with a crown of Lilly of the Valley. The statue was carried on a plinth by four girls, and we all processed, some infront of the Virgin Queen of the May and the rest behind scattering petals on to the road and singing hymns to the Virgin Mary. How ever hard I tried to be good, try as I may, I was never picked to be a barer of the statue.

And here is the hymn we sang.

Song Lyric Sunday: White Rabbit.

Hi this week Jim Adams at NewEpicAuthor said our prompt for #songlyricsunday, July 7, 2019 is – Zodiac animals those being a Rat/Ox/Tiger/Rabbit/Dragon/Snake/Horse/Sheep/ Monkey/Rooster/Dog/Pig.

When I was at school, a convent , taught by nuns. I got myself into a whole load of trouble. We were told we should bring in a favourite record to school for discussion. Well I was bullied at school not only by the other girls but by the nuns too.

I thought I would shake them all up! What did I choose as my play and tell. White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane.

This was written by Jefferson Airplane front woman Grace Slick, who based the lyrics on Lewis Carroll’s 1865 children’s book Alice InWonderland

(officially Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland). Like many young musicians in San Francisco, Slick did a lot of drugs, and she saw a surfeit of drug references in Carroll’s book, including the pills, the smoking caterpillar, the mushroom, and lots of other images that are pretty trippy. She noticed that many children’s stories involve a substance of some kind that alters reality, and felt it was time to write a song about it.
Above info found here

I loved the song then back in 1967 when I was in my fourteenth year. I had met my now hubby earlier that year when I was thirteen.

It was worth a couple of weeks Saturday Detention just for the look on the nuns face’s.

I do hope you enjoy it.