Hands and Smiles - from The Lions

If I stretch out my hand to you, will you put your hand in mine?

If I smile and say, “How are you?” will you take it as a sign

That all I want is your friendship, I’m not asking for anything more.

So put you hand in mine because that’s what hands are for.

If your hands are in your pockets, then they are hidden out of the way

One thing you can be sure of though, they’ll never go astray

But think of all the other things they’ll never do.

They’ll never work for others and they’ll do much less for you.

So if I stretch my hand to you, will you put your hand in mine?

Perhaps we’ll start a chain of friendly people, all in line

Our chain will reach forever, cos we’ll gather more and more.

So put your hands in mine because that’s what hands are for

Author unknown

SMILING

Smiling is infectious; you catch it like the flu

When someone smiled at me today I started smiling too

I passed around the corner and someone saw my grin

When he smiled I realised I’d passed it on to him

I thought about that smile then realised its worth

A single smile just like mine could travel round the earth

So if you feel a smile begin don’t leave it undetected

Let’s start an epidemic quick and get the world infested

Anon

(With thanks to Alan Walker, one of the Paignton Lions)

Book Sorting

Today we've been sorting and cleaning books, then dividing into three piles: keep; store; give to the next Lions International book sale.  It's a wonderful feeling finding 'old friends' which had been hidden behind the huge pot plant for the past three years.  
What I do wonder, however, is whether books are now out of date, now we can access all the info we need from the internet or store books on iPad/Kindle.  
Or will books always have a place in our lives: the feel of a book in one's hand, the smell of old dust, being able to turn down the corners, being able to make notes in the margins and underline important bits.

Two brave souls emerging from the sea on Boxing Day
and posing, shivering for their photocall!




This photo was taken a couple of years ago when Steve and Dave took part in the Annual Paignton Lions (thus Lion outfit) Boxing Day Walk Into The Sea.  By this time they were very, very cold and looking forward to driving home and having a shower and hot drink.
The Lions raise money every year and give to local and international worthy causes.
It's also a fun organisation to belong to, this year we've had a skittles match, games evening and were to have a boat trip but the weather wasn't kind.  We have stalls at many local events and run an Easter Egg Hunt every year on Goodrington Sands.


http://torquayfansforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=fansphoto&action=display&thread=7194&page=1
On this site there's even a pic of David in his Lions outfit!




21 July 2011
Last evening we had a fun social at Paul and Mary's - 
with lots of lovely food, drink and company. 
Then we played table cricket. 
As our names came first alphabetically, David and I were team captains.  
Our team won the toss so I chose second in to bat, so we could review the other team's tactics.  And it worked - as we won!!

Torbay Views and Inspirations

 Coverdale Tower in Paignton is adjacent to Paignton Parish Church 
and is named after Bishop Miles Coverdale, who published 
an English translation of the Bible in 1536. 

 Crabpots at Paignton Harbour, looking north towards Torquay

 Oldway Mansion, built by Isaac Merritt Singer, of Sewing Machine fame

 Paignton Harbour, again looking torwards Torquay

The cliff at Goodrington

Torbay viewed from the seaward side, when out with a boat trip with the Paignton Lions

Looking up for rain one day - what vegetable growers are often 

seeking - I saw these seagulls. It's unusual, as we live high up 

we often look down on seagulls as they fly past, which is really weird.