L stands for

Lewis Carroll.

Lewis Carroll Is the pen name of an Oxford Don and Anglican Deacon Charles Lutwidge Dodd, he wrote the legendary story  'The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland'

 It is, in my view, a fantasy story for children and adults alike.

  I read this in junior school and found it rather scary, but when good old Walt Disney turned it into an animated movie I got a better feeling about it and could see the writing for what it was.. a tale of fantasy. 

A window in Daresbury Parish Church depicted scenes from Alice in Wonderland. 

 Lewis Carroll was born in a small Cheshire village called Daresbury just 20 miles from my home.  His father was the Anglican Parish Priest there  when LC   was growing up. 

 Ken Dodd, a much loved comedian from Liverpool,  has recorded a series of readings from the story, they are held at the Lewis Carroll Centre in the village.

The Nave of the Parish Church All Saints with the Alice Window looking down upon the aisle.

 

 As the Alice in Wonderland tale is so long and complex, oozing with wonderful zany characters and wise and witty sayings, I've compiled a few extracts and images, from the book for you to enjoy.

 The main synopsis of the story is about Alice, a little girl, who on seeing a white rabbit with a stopwatch, out of curiosity, follows him. She  falls down a rabbit hole and enters a the world of wonderland.

The Cheshire Cat's Grin....Scary or what?

 

Alice on meeting The Cheshire Cat: "Well I've seen a cat without a grin", thought Alice "but a grin without a cat"! 

The Cheshire Cat appearing behind his smiling teeth!

 "It's the most curious thing I ever saw in my life".

 Alice asked the Cheshire Cat who was sitting in a tree,

 "What road do I take?"

.

Alice as she enters Wonderland.

 The Cat asked, "Where do you want to go?"

 "I  don't know" , Alice answered.

"Then",  said the Cat, it really doesn't matter does it"?

 

 

The Mad Hatter.

 

 

 

 Mad Hatter: "Would you like a little more tea"? Alice: "Well I haven't had any yet, so I can't very well take more".

 

 March Hare: Ah, you mean you can't very well take less.

 Mad Hatter: Yes ,  you can always take more than nothing. 

The Mad Hatter's Tea Party.

 

 Wise words.

 The rule is jam tomorrow and jam yesterday but never jam today. 

 (The White Queen)

Alice with The White Queen.

Well there it is....my slant on a much loved and revered writer, with such an enlightening and humorous ideology

My sincere thanks to the laudable Denise for devising ABCW, thus enabling us all to linger awhile and look and learn of others lives. Thanks also to the lenient Roger for his loyalty to ABCW, working tirelessly to keep us all connected.

Lastly,  lets not forget the team of helpers who read and comment on every site that they possibly can,

Best wishes to all,
Di..xx
ABCW team helper.



 



 

K stands for

 King Witlaf's  Drinking Horn.

( By Henry W Longfellow),

Witlaf a King of the Saxons,

 Ere yet his last  he breathed

 To the merry monks of Croyland

 His drinking horn bequeathed--,

 That whoever they sat at their revels,

 And drank from the golden bowl,

 

 They might remember the donor

 And breath a prayer for his soul.

 

 So sat they once at Christmas

 And bade the goblet pass;

 In their beards the red wine glistened

 Like dewdrops in the grass.

 

 They drank to the soul of Witlac,

They drank to Christ the Lord,

 And to each of the Twelve Apostles,

 Who had preached his holy word.

 

 They drank to Saints and Martyrs,

 of the dismal days of yore,

 And as soon as the horn was empty,

They remembered one Saint more.

 

 And the reader droned from the pulpit,

 Like the murmur of many bees,

 The legend of good Saint Guthlac,

 And Saint Basil's homilies.

 

 Till the great bells of the convent,

 from their prison in the tower,

 Guthlac and Bartholomaeus,

  Proclaimed the midnight hour.

 

And theYule -log cracked in the chimney, 

 And the Abbot bowed his head,

 And the flamelets flapped and flickered,

 But the Abbot was stark and dead.

 

 Yet still in his pallid fingers,

 He clutched the golden bowl,

 In which, like a pearl dissolving,

 Had sunk and dissolved his soul.

 

 But not for this their revels

 The jovial monks forbore,

 For they cried "Fill high the goblet!

 We must drink to one Saint more".

 

My thanks to Denise for devising and Keeping ABCW going for many years and to Roger for his infinite knowledge in kindly helping us all to share our thoughts. and not forgetting the team of helpers too! 

 

J for Jubilee,

A poem for The Diamond Jubilee by Pam Ayres.

Pam is a celebrated English poet, comedienne, and song writer, She is a writer of some hilarious monologues and presents Radio and TV programmes.

Dad took me to the local pub in 1953,

 They had a television set, the first I'd ever see,

 To watch the Coronation, I knew it sounded grand,

 Although at six years old, the word was  hard to understand.

But little kids like me and others all around the world, We saw the magic crown: we saw magnificence unfurled,

  A brand new Queen created, the emergence and the birth,

 And the Abbey seem a place between the Heaven and the Earth.

Certain pictures linger when considering the reign, Hauntingly in black and white, a platform and a train, The saddest thing I ever saw, more sharp than any other, Prince Charles, The little boy who had to shake hands with his mother. 

 

 

HRH Queen Elizabeth the Second and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh.

A thousand boats are sailing little ships among the large,

 Close beside the splendour that bedecks the Royal Barge,

 

 And as the pageant passes,  I can see an image clear,

 Of The Royal Yacht Britannia, she surely should have been here.

I wish the Queen a genuine and  JOYFUL  JUBILEE...... Sure in the affection of the mute majority, I hope she hears our voices as we thank her now as one, Sixty years a QUEEN.   A job immaculately done.

Her Royal Highness enjoying the JUBILEE celebrations.

 

 

 

My sincere thanks to Denise for creating ABCW in such a JOCULAR fashion and to Roger for the JUST and fair way he  JOLLIES us all along to produce the masterpieces that appear each week on our dedicated ABCW blogs; Oh! and many thanks to the team of  helpers who assist Roger with visits to other blogs...One big JOLLY  family! Di .... xxx.

 

 

 

 

I stands for Incompatible.

Incompatible: by Vivien Wade.

 

Some say we're incompatible

 It seems that most agree,

 We don't belong together

Should be independent and free.

 
 

 Why do people judge us,

  when we in each delight?

 Having different tastes just adds

 To a mixture that's just right.

We're joined together as a pair,

 Like a hand fits in a glove,

 And the pleasure it can give,

 spreads to others with our love.

 

You may begin to wonder why,

 We've stayed attached this long,

 How did we get so popular

 And proved so many so wrong?

 We'll let you hear our secret,

 Then all of you can share,

 Peanut butter and chocolate

 Are a very compatible pair..

 

 

My sincere thanks to the incomparable Denise for devising ABCW and also to the incredible Roger for his indomitable efforts in the administration of ABCW. And not forgetting the team of helpers who lend a hand each week to visit other sites.
Best wishes, Di. ABCW team.

H from Homer - hippoptamus then to Happy!

HOMER.

"Hateful to me as the gates of  Hades

 is that the man who hides  one

  Thing in his heart and speaks another".

 In several of the 'classics'

 'HADES' is often referred to as The Gates of Hell. 

 

                                                                                                                                                                   
                                  

The HIPPOPOTAMUS.

by  Ogden Nash.

 Behold The  Hippopotamus!

 We laugh at how he looks at us,

 And yet in moments dark and grim,

I wonder how we look too him.

Peace, thou hippopotamus, !

 We really look alright to us, As you no doubt delight the eye

 Of the other hippopotami.

 

 

 

 

 

The Hippopotamus.

 by Jack Prelusky.

 

The huge Hippopotamus hasn't a hair

 on the back of his wrinkly hide;

 he carries the bulk of his prominent hulk

 assembled loosely inside.

 

 

The huge Hippopotamus lives without a care 

 at a slow philosophical pace,

 as he wades in the mud with a thump and a thud

 and a permanent grin on his face.

A smiling hippopotamus.

 

 

In my imagination these Happy Hippos are dancing 'The Bump', when in reality they are part of the troop of Hippos dancing to the  'Dance of the Hours' by Toscanini  in   Disney's  Fantasia !

HAPPY HIPPOS' HAVING an HILLARIOUS time....

Dancing 'The Bump'

 

 

To finish.

A HEART warming moment as a very

HAPPY little girl with her  HANDSOME  friend.....

 HUMPHREY the Camel....as they share an HILLARIOUS moment....

 I wonder what caused this HAPPY moment? 

 

 

                                          <HAPPY>      < HAPPY>      <HAPPY>   

My thanks to  Denise, for creating ABCW, with her HEART warming tales of,
  HOMELY life in Liverton, Village Yorkshire
 Also to  Roger for the HELPFUL and  HUMOROUS way in which he dilgently visits every post each week, this must take up a lot of his time!
 He  also deals with  the  HELPERS  who work  HARMONIOUSLY to keep ABCW  up and running.

My sincere best wishes to each and every one,

Di xx

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