Sweet nothings

the weekend that was.

Oh, what a weekend. Where shall I start?

There was London,

Staying hotels, and great meals out....

There was a race {more about that in a minute} 

and, after the trip home, there was a puppy. 

OUR puppy. at last.

 You can imagine, there are plenty of puppy pics to follow. He's a honey. 

And see Mr BG in that pic? He said, and I quote; 'Well I'm really happy to buy you it, but  the dog will be yours, and I'll just, you know, take it running when its bigger. But I probably wont have much to do with it, I'm not really any good with dogs' {he was brought up in an always pet-less household} 

Took Sullivan about five seconds to decide he loved Mr Britguy. And about five more to suck Mr Britguy  right in with those puppy dog eyes and charm. He's just fine with the dog {and cat} of course. 

:)

growing fast

too fast!!

Feeding the ducks :)

In the middle of this busy City we are fortunate to have a vast expanse of green called The Common.

Its both lovely and ...not so lovely. As is the way of inner city parklands. 

Its rather beautiful in places, and its heavenly to be so close to such a dog walking, kite flying, bike riding, {husband} running, Mecca. But its often vandalised in parts, and is just a little tiny bit scary in the quieter areas. That could just be me tho...!

 Today Miss Daisy and I went to feed the ducks.

Or mostly the swans as you can see! Daddy swan is a huge bully, chasing off tiny ducklings, big dogs and everything in between, so these 'not so' little guys get well fed.

Mummy Swan, on the other hand, is beautiful, calm and sweet tempered...

The babies have all survived. eight.  all now this funny stage of neither baby nor adult.

I got to stroke and fuss one of them. soooo fluffy!

These lil guys had to sneak around the back of us to get some bread without daddy swan noticing.  We fed the robins too. And by default the rat family. mmmm. Who brought out their babies to show us. nice. It was about then we left...!!!

Lights, camera,

....Georgia.

Georgia in her school latest Drama production 'A Government Inspector':) 

she was darn good. A real natural.{ much better than some of the kids -I'm so allowed to say that, its my blog :) But I hate the stilted silence when someone forgets their lines.... the whole audience tenses and holds it breath!}

I have no idea why the teachers picked a Russian play set in 1830. And then made it more english. No idea. Maybe working with teenagers addles your brain {living with them does...} Not really sure it worked. I can, off the top of my head, think of fifty plays they could of done better. But hey.  This was a little strange. but we all watched it anyway. As parents do...

There was a 'no flash photography' announcement at the start of the play. All the other parents put away their point n shoots, muttering.Haha! I dont use flash anyway and altho I couldnt zoom in, the 50mm coped pretty well with the lighting. I felt very smug with my lil nifty fifty lens on my camera. 

Looking forward to many more nights out watching G  on stage:)

You know they say....

'Do something everyday that scares you'? 

well I can tick that box today already.

sheesh.

I should point out I dont like bugs. at all. even slightly.

Heres how to get scared....

Take one macro lens outside. Take pictures of flowers. or try to, with the wind thats blowing.

notice bee. aw, we like bees.

notice strange bug near pond. ugh. pluck up courage to take picture...CLOSE up picture!!

realise there are four of them. back away.

Notice all top leaves have gone from all the climbing roses. leaves that were there two days ago youre sure of it. 

uh-oh.

Recall last year discovering the hideous bugs responsible, and how you freaked out. 

Tell yourself not to even think of looking.

Look.

shriek upon finding one of the bug things that look like caterpillars but arent. {learnt that last year}

 Dare yourself to lean in close amongst the tall stems to try to take his picture better.

shudder.

then.

Look up directly above your head.....

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!!!

I itch. I have change my clothes, I still itch. I am shuddering at the photo so much I dont think its staying on my hard drive.... 

I sprayed them BTW with whatever was in the shed.

new blog banner

Just because. 

You may have to hit refresh to see it. {And you'll definitely have to come out of google reader!}

All credits Designer Digitals -of course. 

Scrapbooking depression...

As you may or may not know I am sloooowly making a little book, just for myself, about my depression and how it was once.  You can see the other pages-so-far here, here, here and here

I am doing pretty darn good now, so mostly these pages do not reflect how I may be feeling now, but how I once felt in the past. I say all that because I get so many kind, kind concerned emails and comments every time I post a 'depression' page. 

And then having said all *that*, this page actually is fairly current! LOL!!!

photo booth the moment...

I am extremely grateful for the gimmicky photobooth on my mac. I'm fairly sure it serves no real useful purpose, other than to capture people squished together, being silly. The photos are meant to be fun so we dont try and get the 'perfect' pic. {pressure off!} and we create silly little snapshot moments to look back on.

sock puppets and chicken wire....

I am nothing if not versatile. At least creatively anyway.. 

today I made a sock puppet, super fast, for one little girl. Who had to have her inoculations today. Not very much fun when you've just been prodded and proked in hospital the week before...

I am no great seamstress. I cant sew for two main reasons - because I have no patience, it isnt fast enough, {or I am not good enough to be fast enough} And secondly  because my Mother can sew. Seriously sew. Costumier, dress designer, wedding dress creator, conjure things up from no pattern or drawing kind of sew. So any attempt at sewing the past has failed miserably next to hers. so I dont. 

But I can make sock puppets. Or so I discovered after having children :) 

 {As long as they are 'real' sock puppets, as in made from old socks and with scraps. I dont hold with the idea of going shopping for bits to make sock puppets from - that kinda defeats the object in my book} Tomorrow, apparently, I'm making a sock horse puppet and an elephant. 

oooookay. 

Gotta love the faith girls have in their Mummas :) 

Funnily enough we dont have a shortage of old or odd socks in this house.  Maybe theres a sock zoo coming on...

I like the girls making something from nothing, we also made 'paper and loo roll tube' puppy dogs today :) Thrifty Crafts are a good thing to pass on. I could get on my soap box about these big 'craft' superstores handing you step by step UN-original items on a plate but ... er.. I wont. Each to their own. ;)

Anyhow, the point of this post is {eventually} that I made sock puppets this afternoon and put up a chicken wire fence yesterday. versatile. thats me;)

Two things - chicken wire fences are not simple to make. or put up. not across brambles and woodland anyway. my arms are killing me.

And dont do it in a skirt,{hello fifty billion wire and bramble scratches} thinking you'll just be a moment.

Oh, and a third thing, chicken wire fences arent exciting to photograph either. altho the 'please notice I'm here and dont run into me' ribbons help somewhat. but not a great deal...

Basically I'm thinking this shows my war effort -make do and mend- attitude. If I need  {fence up} or want {instant puppet} something bad enough I will make it work. 

Only have half the items needed? Not enough cash to 'get someone in'? Never mind, lets just do it anyway. Now. 

Mr Britguy is not like that. at all. He is the carefully {over} thought out planning man. The buy every piece of equipment needed kinda guy. He will ring an expert and wait a week for him. he balances out my Gung ho DIY. I like that about him. 

Wish he'd put up that fence tho....

Hugo Cat