Namesake

Welcome to the last Storytelling Sunday of 2011. Thanks so much to Sian for hosting this, I was quite late to the loveliness but I have so enjoyed joining in.

A few things have collided this week which has resulted in me finding a story…it’s almost a story in itself. I could not envisage any story at all at the beginning of this week as Sian first reminded us so I am quite glad how it has all come together.

The magazine came first, I spent a lovely half-hour in Costa with a hot chocolate a week-ago Friday after I tracked down a copy of Scrap365 (Sian is contributing). The first article I was drawn to was the cover layout and so I was inspired to make a layout which used the ideas of designer Mahlin Wiggur.

Then on Monday my new stash arrived (after having been on a stash diet for two months) so I was excited and inspired by the new papers from BG (Piccadilly). They helped germinate the idea along with the magazine article.

On Friday evening I took a look at the weekly challenge on UKScrappers which inspired the journaling.

I scrapped the layout this evening and as I started to blog the layout I realised that it would make a story for Storytelling Sunday.

I love it when a plan comes together……..actually thinking about it this happened last month that after I had blogged my story, I thought of a layout that would have worked so I am glad it has worked this way round this time.

Ok, so, the story (within the story-are you still with me?)

My middle name is Patricia, my namesake is Patricia Bowles, my Auntie Pat. She is lovely and talented and very special to me and therefore I am honoured to have her name. She is my Mum’s older sister and Mum wanted to name me after her as she was such a help to Mum when I was born.

Mum and Dad lived on Lundy. It is a small island in the Bristol Channel and there are no medical facilities – well I imagine there is a first aider – but no doctor, surgery and certainly no maternity ward, so when Mum was pregnant with me she had to leave and return to the mainland about 6 weeks before my birth and stay there for 6 weeks after I arrived.

My A. Pat and her family, her husband the brilliant, smart, terribly teasing U. Brian and their three cracking children Nick, David & Anne-Marie lived in the most fantastical big house in Station Road, Okehampton with my beloved Granny having her own rooms as well. So I got to live there for a few weeks too, gawd I loved that house.

A. Pat used to take in visitors (as they were called, I never heard them referred to as guests, clients, customers etc it was a family home that had vistors), yes it was that big. I remember excitedly, sleepily coming downstairs when I stayed as an older child and helping her to fill the (homemade) jam pots, butter pots and take the toast racks through, tummy grumbling for my turn. 

I could never decide whether to do this or find a looked-up-to cousin to go out with them on their paper-round, they of course encouraged this and would argue over who was going to get me because I used to deliver the difficult papers, when I say difficult I don’t mean The Daily Mail, I mean they were up lots of steps, or along a long winding path. At the time I thought they were trusting me to do the difficult stuff lol. Of course they were just getting me to do the difficult stuff.

Back at the hearth and dining room we never dressed up in waitressy gear but the visitors were served with kindness, calmness and quietness and by gum it was always top notch food in Denby crockery (My Mum has some of it as A. Pat gave it out when they moved on – I guess she was fairly fed up of looking at it. We collect the Jet range but we love our greeny-blue soup bowls, i’ve a photo somewhere

, yes there it is!),

anyhoo, despite having the visitors and three children of her own she looked after Mum and I so well. I came a couple of days early; Dad had left the island, as I was due, but he didn’t make it to Okehampton in time. So A. Pat held Mum’s hand all through labour and my birth.

 

She has been there for me for all the major and minor events of my life with a careful word and thought. One of my most treasured possessions is my patchwork quilt that she handmade for me, we went together to the material shop in Tavistock when I was about 20 to choose the patterned material and I was given the quilt on my wedding day aged 26. Sometimes I do wonder if I found a husband just to get my hands on that quilt.

I love My A. Pat and I love that I am named after her.

I also love that the challenges this week have nailed these memories down in words and pictures, which is what we are all about with this scrapbooking thang.