Newsletter from Plaigne, December 2009

Hello one and all.
It’s that time again. It seems to come round so quickly! Hope you are all well. Thank you to those who have sent Xmas greetings and presies. Now for a rapid tour of our year.
In February, we took the four girls to Spain for a week, in Santa Susanna. I had done a late booking offer in a self-catering apartment not far from the beach. The day before we were to go, I received a phone call to say the apartment wasn’t available. They offered us two rooms in a 4 star hotel right on the beach. Bang went our self-catering food budget. The hotel was great. The girls all wanted to stay for another week! We were about 45 km away from Barcelona, so we went there on the train, along the coastline (remembering our last visit to Barcelona with the car). Barcelona is a wonderful city and we visited as much as we could. On the way home at the end of the week, we visited Gerona. Again, the old part of Gerona is beautiful.
April saw David and I meeting up with Steph and Tom in Dublin’s fair city and it really is a fair city. We had a great time and we have photos to prove that it isn’t always raining in Ireland and that the sun does shine sometimes. We had a whole mixture of weather and got wet, warm and cold over the short period we were there. As per usual on our trips, we did much walking and exploring. Like to see as much of the places we visit as poss!
In June, we took Raymonde and Isabelle to England for ten days. We flew from Carcassonne to Bournemouth on the first day that Ryanair were starting that route. The flight cost 1€ each! We stayed with David’s parents, Enid and Dennis (thank you), and visited family and places that we like, such as Broadstairs. I managed to fit in a bit of family research in the cemetery. We went to Ann and Bert’s, in London and stayed for a long weekend. We all enjoyed it very much. Raymonde and Isabelle had done research before we went, looking in books and watching DVDs. Raymonde drew a picture of all the things they wanted to see. We decided that a boat trip on the Thames would be a good plan to cover everything. Tower Bridge was very cooperative for us and they saw it going up and down. Mummy was instructed to take lots of photos as their camera had run out. We spent the last day, which happened to be Raymonde’s birthday, in Bournemouth. Her treat was a visit in the oceanarium. I nearly had a fit when I found both girls with hands in the piranha tank! LOL.
In the summer, it was lovely to have family visitors and meet up with family. Simon and family came, and cousin Deb and family came. The cousins on two levels all enjoyed each other’s company. We actually did an impromptu visit to Deb and Nigel’s in the Alps so that David could help Nigel with the guttering. We had a really active but relaxing time. The weather was very good then and all summer long too.
In September, we did our annual trip to London. We stayed at Ann and Bert’s again (thank you for your kind hospitality and sorry about our departure time!), after a couple of nights at Den and Enid’s (and visiting recuperating Simon after his back op). We visited Buckingham Palace again and the National Gallery and spent a day in Greenwich.
In October, David and I, who were both rather stressed (you will see why later), escaped to Brussels. We did much walking and discovering, eating of Belgian chocs and, of course, I had moules and frites. Brussels is a wonderful city to discover and the Grand Place is delightful.
From the end of August to October, I spent a lot of time at the hospital. Three of our darlings were admitted to hospital, one after the other. Firstly, Isabelle went to children’s emergency. She was rather poorly and very thin. Her umbilical hernia which she’d had since birth, decided to go inside. This caused distress and pain to her insides. Couple that with swollen stomach glands caused by a virus, and you get a child in a lot of pain who can’t eat or drink. A blood anomaly was found at the same time. She’s okay now, although she still has an anomaly with her blood, but this doesn’t seem to bother her.
Next in hospital was Johnathan. He had a very bad car accident. He fell asleep at the wheel and ended up in the middle of a field after rolling over. He was discovered, two hours later, in an unconscious state, by a hunter. The rescue team had to cut him out of the car. He was in intensive care for a while before going to the normal service. His injuries included a fractured skull, shoulder and collar bones, bruised lungs and air trapped in his chest cavity. One of the rescue team phoned me to see how he was and said that he was very lucky to be alive, and it was probably due to him driving a VW, a strong car. After a couple of operations, and recuperation, Jn is fine.
Two days after Jn came out of hospital, Geoffrey went in, in the same service, for a hernia operation. The heavy work he’d been doing had taken its toll. Everyone is now recovered and back to “normal.” Yes, I know; what is normal? LOL.
As for activities, GC is continuing his correspondence course and is doing work experience. Benjamin is at a hotel school and has just returned from a hotel in Bordeaux where he was on marked work experience. He received top marks. Well done! Jn finished his apprenticeship and is a qualified electrician. Well done too! He is taking a year out before continuing with his BAC Pro. He is looking for a big enough enterprise to take him on so that he can continue his studies for the BAC. Demelza and Verity have started their last year of the Bac at the lycée. They have been looking at their options and choices for the future.
David continues with helping people with their renovations and is getting a good reputation for lime washing and tiling. He has found time to make quite a lot of progress in the chateau and Jn has been a great help in there too. We no longer rent out the apartment and he has knocked an entrance through from the rest of the house. As for me, I have been writing a lot and devoting much of my time to world peace solutions and healing the environment. You can see what I am up to on http://angelcuddlepublishing.com and http://6-musketeers-agency.multidomainrotator.com and one of my green blogs is: http://sarahpritchard.wordpress.com There aren’t enough hours in the day especially as I am only on dial-up and everything takes so long to do! We’ve been told that we may get adsl in 2010 so I am ever hopeful, but not holding my breath!
I have created a Peace Dot page on a sub domain, http://peace.angelcuddlepublishing.com and I would like to encourage you to e-sign the FUTURO-Plan world peace petition. You will find the link on that page. It won’t cost you anything but a little time. I will leave you with the link to the UBIEE ENVIRO Project Pritchard Family in Aid of UNICEF vortex which I have set up. I invite you to join us in supporting UNICEF, and at the same time, the environment, yourself and your children. Here is the link: http://ubiee.com/enviro/?tag=pritchardinaidofUNICEF I gave each of the kids a one time contribution in that vortex for Christmas.
If you want to contact me, my Skype ID is: sarahprit
Email: questions@sarahp.earthgreenmail.com
I wish you all a Merry Christmas tide and a Happy New Year, full of abundance in all its forms.
Many blessings,
Sarah

What does Christmas mean to you and the forgotten children

http://community.adlandpro.com/forums/post/907456/WhatdoesChristmasmeantoyouandLesEnfantsOublies/11.aspx

Bonjour and Merry Christmas to one and all.

I have revived this forum thread because it is very relevant to my recent activities.



The Christmas wreath symbolizes true love. Real love never ceases; it is a continuous neverending ring.

One of my missions is to remind people about the forgotten children on our Planet Earth and to help our forgotten children. Spare a thought for them and send them some positive energy. They will feel it, even if they don't know where it has come from.

On this line of thought I would like to bring your attention to UNICEF. This organization does a great deal to help the forgotten children, les enfants oubliés in our world.

I have set up a Pritchard Family UBIEE Vortex in aid of UNICEF. As a Christmas present to my children, I have done a One Time Contribution for each of them in the vortex. This means that I have given them a Christmas gift that will never stop giving, because once you make a one time contribution you stay in the system. UNICEF and the forgotten children will receive this never ending gift too.

If you make a one time contribution to this vortex for yourself or a loved one, you will be helping UNICEF and the forgotten children. At the same time you will be setting up an ongoing residual income for yourself or the person on whose behalf you make the contribution. You may even like to do a contribution on behalf of a charity or for a fundraiser. There are a number of possibilities.

Here is the link for the vortex: http://ubiee.com/enviro/?tag=pritchardinaidofUNICEF

If you would like a full explanation of the UBIEE ENVIRO Project, you can download a copy in pdf format from this link: http://www.sarahswritingdesk.com/uepUNICEF.pdf

Love for each other and our planet goes hand in hand with peace on Earth. May peace prevail on Earth. Please join me in signing the FUTURO-Plan Peace Petition for a better Earth for our children and their children. With world peace, using this formula there will be no forgotten children.

Just click on the scroll at the top of the post and you will be taken to the petition sign up page.


I would also like to draw your attention to my peace page which has been registered in the Peace Dot directory. I set it up on a sub domain on Angel Cuddle Publishing. This is the link:

http://peace.angelcuddlepublishing.com

Thank you for taking the time to have a look.

Angel cuddles,

Sarah

Newsletter from Plaigne, December 2008

Entertainment at the banquet, Bunratty Castle

Plaigne Newsletter, December 2008

Hello and I hope this finds you all well. We’re all well, including the 3 cats and Polly and Loupio. Thank you to all who’ve sent cards, letters, emails and presies.

We have projects for our house. We are continuing with the Grange rental (and have bookings for next year already), but the apartment is going to become the main entrance to our house. David has almost completed the new bathroom in there. It’s looking really good. Next step will be to knock through into my cave so that we can get into the apartment without going outside. We’ll then use that bathroom while D does the family bathroom upstairs. So it is ongoing work.

This year, David and I decided to have some adventures and discover a bit of the world we live in. In February, we took the four girls to England. On the way up we stayed in Paris, surprised them by going to EuroDisney and then stayed the night in Paris again.

When we arrived in England we found it cold and misty. As we approached Caister, the freezing mist was very worrying and made us lose our way a little. We rang John and he came to find us. We had a very nice stay with John and Jane. We went to the sea front at Great Yarmouth (which brought back memories for me of our family hol there). John and Jane treated us to chips in the market place and ice creams down by the sea front. Yum Yum! Thanks John and Jane; we enjoyed our little stay in Caister.

Next stage was to drive to D’s parents, leave the car there and take the train to London where we stayed for 3 nights in a hotel. We did a lot of walking and sight seeing and were all exhausted in the evenings!

Next stage was to stay at D’s sister’s in Maidstone. We thank Sue and Ken for their hospitality. Much appreciated. We were able to visit family and take Mum to Broadstairs. It’s a place that D and I have always liked and the girls seem to like it too. Mum treated us to fish and chips so we had our fix. When asked what they liked best about their hol, the twins said that it was seeing the family. They were certainly very happy at D’s parent’s and enjoyed Nanny’s cooking.

In July, I suddenly decided to visit Rome. I offered to take the girls, but the twins told me to just take Daddy and they’d look after the little ones for me. I think they knew that I wasn’t going to Rome to relax. I’d write out an itinerary every evening and then make sure that we did everything on the list. D still managed to go swimming every day. I joined him once. It was very hot in Rome, more than 40°. We went to Italy on a cruise ship from Barcelona. That was a great start to the hol. We stayed one night in a hotel right in Rome. Driving in Rome is rather hazardous. They are mad! Walking across the road is taking your life in your hands. I was limping due to a cricket injury, so I used the zebra crossings. Do they take any notice of them? No, not even with red lights. They even bib you to get off the crossing and out of their way!

The rest of our stay in Rome was in a bungalow in Village Roma. We left the car parked at the bungalow and used the shuttle to the Vaticun every day. We loved Rome and intend to return. We took the cruise ship back to Barcelona again. D didn’t want to get off! That is someone who doesn’t like to travel by water. Ha Ha! It certainly makes us want to go on a longer cruise.

Also in July, we took the girls camping at St Nazaire on the Med. We all had a great, relaxing time. We visited Colioure. We all like it there. At the beginning of September, we took the two little ones back to St Nazaire again. I got a virus in my puter which actually slowly killed it off. GC brought life back to it, but I lost many of your email addresses. I haven’t managed to find them all, so forgive me if I haven’t contacted you.

Later in September, D and I flew to London and took the train to Sittingbourne to stay a few nights with Den and Enid (thank you), and then we returned to London. We went to the theatre twice, to see Mama Mia and The 39 Steps. Buckingham Palace was great, of course. We got in for free which was a bonus. There was a state banquet set up. It was a wonderful sight. I still think the Queen needs to sort some of her net curtains!

In October, D and I went to Bunratty, Ireland. It rained nearly all the time we were there, but it was beautiful, all the same. I took lots of photos with my new camera and a couple of them won in the photo fun competition at Adlandpro. We went to a medieval banquet in Bunratty Castle, one evening and were greeted by the butler, as My Lord and My Lady. I could get very used to that, so you know how to address me from now on!

We plan on exploring more and taking our discoveries further afield as and when we are able (as much as poss).

For Xmas, us females all sang in a concert at Orsans. Ray and Isa joined in with “Away in a Manger.” On 20^th Dec, some of us villagers put on an Xmas meal for friends of Plaigne. We had a Father Christmas for the kids. Chris, who played FC, was almost melted to tears by Isa, who gave him a big cuddle. He had a large lump in his throat and could hardly speak.

On Xmas Eve, at 6 pm, I was asked to lead carol singing in the village, down by the mairie. It was cold but we had mulled wine to warm us up. At 8 pm, we had some friends, Karen and Adrian and their kids here for a meal. All the Pritchards were present (which doesn’t happen very often these days). We had to add an extra table and chairs. It was a lovely evening and we saw in Xmas Day. Xmas Day was spent as a family day and I didn’t go anywhere near my puter (which can’t be said for GC, but he did hold out til 10 pm).

I’m finding it very difficult with only an extra slow dial-up connection, but my Internet business is progressing and Angel Cuddle Publishing is official. I have an office in London and am registered in England. This complicates matters sometimes when I’m filling in electronic forms. I’m living in France, but have a business address in England and the forms can’t always cope with me. Ooooh la la. I’m putting my best foot forward and overcoming all obstacles.

Well, dear people, here’s to an abundant 2009 and beyond for us all, full of love and joy and peace. Please sign our peace petition: http://angelcuddlesforpeace.com

Many blessings and of course, angel cuddles (my signature),

Sarah & co

Ps weather report: 26^th woke up to land covered in white stuff and kids used sledge. 27^th no white stuff anywhere and sun shining, but windy.

Season's Greetings

Bonjour!

I wish you all a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year.

May it be a new year of abundance in every sense, a year of adventures and discoveries, and of comfort and love.

Angel cuddles,

Sarah

Angel Cuddle Publishing

Winning Streak......

Well, I've been a happy bunny lately.

My photographs won two weeks running over at Adlandpro.

They were both from my visit to Bunratty, Ireland.

Here is the first one:



Pretty farmhouse windowsill, Bunratty, Ireland

Here is the second:



Oh is this pose ok? Bunratty House, Ireland

My prize was to have my photo displayed in a prominent position in Adland for the week.

Earlier in the year, I won a short story competition over at Facebook. My prize was a writing course book.

Last weekend, I won second prize of $150 in the Comments Contest at Blognet Awards.

I’ve been commenting again. Also my blog is one of the nominated blogs in the Best Literary Blog category.

Here is the link: http://blognetawards.com/angel-cuddles-writing for you to pay a visit, and once you have voted, why don’t you make some comments and perhaps you’ll be a winner like I was.

Mine was the second prize. You may do better!!

The Angel Cuddle Publishing blog, is also nominated in the Best Internet Marketing Blog category.

You can take a look here: http://blognetawards.com/angel-cuddle-publishing

Why not go along and vote and then leave some comments. Perhaps you will win in the comments contest, like I did.

Lastly, have you seen Best Forum of the Year Award voting at Adlandpro? My forum, Sarah’s Emporium, was one of the nominated forums. My forum won Best Forum of the Month earlier in the year with $200 winnings, so it was automatically nominated in the Best Forum of the Year competition.

Here is the link: http://community.adlandpro.com/forums/thread/1166912.aspx

Angel cuddles,

Sarah

ps I'd love to welcome you in my forum too. You can pay a visit by clicking here.

Blog update and let this be a warning to you

I’ve neglected all my blogs. There are a number of reasons.

I was at St Nazaire, South France, on the Mediterranean. I used a wifi passcard. This isn’t a secure system, unfortunately. My computer caught a virus and when I returned home, at first I couldn’t get IE or Firefox to work, but Crazy Browser worked. Then, that wouldn’t work and gradually my computer died. It didn’t know that it was a computer anymore! My son managed to save some data, but I lost a great deal of data.

My son re-installed Windows, but it is now Vista instead of XP and I’m having to learn how to use it. Certain things that worked before, don’t now, but I’m coping and gradually improving the situation.

Take this as a warning to always backup. I had planned to buy an external hard disk to save everything on when I returned from St Nazaire, but I was unlucky and got the virus at St Nazaire.

I’ve got a hard disk now and save everything as I go along. It is a very slow process getting things back to ‘normal’ (especially on dial-up).

Focus has been put on setting up Angel Cuddle Publishing on and offline. That isn’t completely done yet but I’m slowly sorting that.

I’ve also been doing some travelling and exploring. I went to London and Bunratty, Ireland. Earlier in the summer, I went to Rome. I plan to visit and explore as many places as I can on this planet, starting with Europe, but setting my sights further afield.

What else has happened?

I was one of the winners in a short story competition, an event run by Jim Green on Facebook, at Creative Writers Hangout. Click here to take a look.

I’ve been nominated for the Just Perfect Award at Adlandpro. This isn’t the first time I’ve been nominated. I guess I’ll have to work on being more perfect, if I want to win. LOL.

Who is it that said that there is no such thing as a perfect person, just people with perfect intentions? Anyway, being nominated makes me feel good.

I’ve signed a world peace solution petition and have actually set up a petition for you to esign. If you wish to sign a petition for world peace, please go to http://angelcuddlesforpeace.com

Well, I’ll sign off now. I intend to keep my blogs more up to date, now that my computer is more sorted.

Oh, before I go, if you feel that I should have your email address, then let me know at address@sarahp.earthgreenmail.com as I lost my address book when the computer went down.

Angel cuddles,

Sarah

Countdown to Earth Day

For the history of Earth Day take a look here.

About Earth Day Network

Founded by the organizers of the first Earth Day in 1970, Earth Day Network (EDN) promotes environmental citizenship and year round progressive action worldwide.

Earth Day Network is a driving force steering environmental awareness around the world. Through Earth Day Network, activists connect, interact, and have an impact on their communities, and create positive change in local, national, and global policies. EDN's international network reaches over 17,000 organizations in 174 countries, while the domestic program engages 5,000 groups and over 25,000 educators coordinating millions of community development and environmental protection activities throughout the year. Earth Day is the only event celebrated simultaneously around the globe by people of all backgrounds, faiths and nationalities. More than a half billion people participate in our campaigns every year.

Our mission is to grow and diversify the environmental movement worldwide, and to mobilize it as the most effective vehicle for promoting a healthy, sustainable planet. We pursue our mission through education, politics, events, and consumer activism.

Earth Day Network’s Mission Statement

EDN seeks to grow and diversify the environmental movement worldwide, and to mobilize it as the most effective vehicle for promoting a healthy, sustainable planet. We pursue these goals through education, politics, events, and consumer activism.

Read more here.