Showing posts with label an award. Show all posts
Showing posts with label an award. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 15

Fate’s Fickle Fingers…

 

Yesterday I wrote a perfectly sane and amusing- well, I thought so- post. Glossing over the ugly bits, to make them appear funny, and light reading.

I must have just accidentally hit some key, only to have the whole thing vanish without trace!

 

We have been having a somewhat trying time of various things lately, & the vanished post seemed somehow, to be the Last Straw!

I searched in vain for the lost post- haha- then took myself off to bed in High Dudgeon.

As I am now using Windows Writer to do my posts, I don’t have the Autosave feature that Blogger has. Win some, lose some. Perhaps it was a lesson to teach me to periodically click on ‘Save Draft’.

 

I have taken myself off to have a dreaded blood test, which is no biggie, just routine, but I have ‘shy veins’. They hate being stuck with any sharp objects. The bloodsuckers I mean blood takers always assure me they can find a suitable vein with no ‘digging’. Invariably they lie, & I end up having the blood taken from the back of my hand, having had holes poked in all directions. I was most amazed when this morning’s blood taker had success at finding a vein- “As big as Texas” she said. Also, & most importantly, it was not painful!

 

Our ancient Airconditioner finally gave up the ghost, & comepletely died. Yes, on the hottest day this year- so far! At it was fully ducted system, it would cost the funding & feeding of a small nation to have replaced. We are settling for something within our modest means, & are promised that this Friday it  shall be installed. Thankfully the weather has been only moderately hot while we have suffered with no great means of cooling down. We have a large room downstairs, which remains about 8 degrees cooler on a really hot day. We have spent some time down there trying to read & amuse ourselves & keep the dogs from ripping out the screen door at every passer by.

 

Speaking of our canine kids, I bit the bullet on Sunday, & attempted the massive clipping, and bathing. I managed to get Honey quite balded, much to her disgust.

 

 

Honey shornHoney shorn 2 Leo trimmed

 

I could not get her to sit down for me, & so this is her begging pose, as much as to say “No more! Please!”

 

Leo just will not cooperate for a photo shoot, & I am ashamed to say, he beat me with his legs, & just refused to tolerate me clipping them, so I think he will have to go to the groomer.

 

Another little stab from fate, was the shatting breakdown of our TV. We had luckily taken out an extended Warranty, so we rang up to see what we needed to do. We were told they no longer stock our model, so we could have a refund, or Store Credit. We took the credit & hightailed it off to choose another, more modern, & very satisfactory Televisual appliance. Of course, it cost more & it is not exactly the time of year for having to purchase mammoth appliances. Mind you, only the price was mammoth, (well, mammoth-ish)we chose a very modest sized TV.

 

We were very proud of our SG as he won the Class Award this year. I was taking some photos to send to his other Grandparents, & he asked if I would put him on the Blog. He is rightly very proud of himself.Medal Darcy 2009 Class 1A  Bless his Heart

 

We had SG to stay with us on Friday night, & on Saturday morning, we thought he might enjoy looked at some garage sales with us. We duly got ready & he stood beside me, outside the garage, whilst Gom was reversing the car out onto the drive.

I am paranoid about children & vehicles, & either get them seated & belted in the vehicle, or I hold onto them to ensure no accidents happen. We were standing together when we heard a loud cracking noise. Uh oh, I thought, Gom has hit something.

I ventured into the garage to see what the problem was, & the leaf blower, had fallen off the shelf, & was now wedged between the front wheel & the bumper bar.  Gom decided he would push the car forward, so I could release the blower. Which would have been fine, except he released the handbrake, & as I released the blower, I noticed the car was gently moving!

Of course I shrieked out, & Gom tried to stop the car, with his body. By now it was gathering momentum, & approaching the doorway of the garage, which was lucky, as Gom had to leap aside. We had had no idea our garage floor had any slope. As our drive is quite steep, we could tell, it was inevitable the car was on it’s way across the road, heading towards two neighbour’s houses. Thank goodness Gom was inside the garage and also thank goodness SG was also inside, as instinct is not always wise, & I would hate to think one of them might have thought they could stop the car from rolling.

As it happened our neighbours had a smallish gate pillar about 3 feet high, made of solid bricks. Thank goodness the car came to an abrupt stop, knocking the gatepost out of the ground, but halting progress of the runaway car. SG was hysterical & Gom was so upset. I think I was just so relieved we were all ok, but it was still a shocking thing to have watched, & it left us quite shattered.

Our neighbours were out as it happened, & when the young husband came home, he had not even noticed his ‘dead’ gate pillar! Gom went over to apologise, & the young man was quite surprised, but not very alarmed- plus he had had his wisdom teeth removed, so had worse things to worry about!

We could hardly believe our luck, when Gom drove the car back up our drive, the only damage done was a little paint scraped off the bumper! As there is a very steep drop to either house opposite ours, things could have been very dire indeed, so we did get off very lightly. Needless to say, we went nowhere that day, but did thank fate for small mercies.

And I confess, every time I looked at the knocked down pillar, I had to laugh to myself.

 

In other happy news, look at this Gorgeous little Soul. She is the Granddaughter of a dear friend, & I think she has been this way before, with those wise eyes.

Gorgeous little Soul

I am still trying to pretend that Christmas is not going to happen, & there have been times I have felt sure it won’t!

 

I wonder if anyone remembers this is the song they played to wake the Astronauts on the moon, in 1969.

Sunday, March 2

An Award, a meme, & the weather grumble grumble.

First up, today, Lone Grey Squirrel has given me an Award.
Blogging Mentor. I was very surprised to get this. I do try to encourage others when I can. If there are tips I can pass along I am very happy to do so. I try to be polite. I do delight in reading LGS' posts. He travels about, & has the most interesting of blogs.
Thank you- taking a bow in humble thanks.


I am now supposed to pass this along to 5 other worthy recipients, so here goes.

Sherry at Q's Corner. Her photo graphic skills are wonderful & her words complements to the photos. Sherry is also very polite, & will answer your comments.

Mike, at Tongue in Check. Hilarious, light hearted, & also very polite at answering your comments. A true Gentleman, but don't tell him I said so!

Josie, at C'est la Vie OMG, I have just realised I spelt your blog name incorrectly on my last post Josie. Sorry! You have helped me & encouraged me. Love to visit your posts.

Pauline of Writing down the Words. Pauline has a way of saying things that are just at the back of your mind, unformulated. She does it for you, beautifully.

Ian, of Or so I thought. Ian is a writer... & it shows! He is wonderful to read, & has a nice turn of phrase with the irreverant touches I love.

Obviously there are others out there who are mentors too. I read a lot- some say too many -blogs every day, & can learn something new, ever day.


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I have been nominated for a book meme by Leslie, from the Pedalogue .
I have done a slightly different version of this book meme, 2 posts ago.
As I am reading 6 books at present, it is no task to find another current read & do this version of the meme. For this version, you go to page 123, & write the first 5 sentences.

The book is Bill Bryson's "Down Under".

Page 123

'In Canberra you have the sense of being in a very large green space you cannot ever quite find your way out of; in Adelaide you are indubitably in a city, but with the pleasant option of stepping out of it from time to time to get a breath of air in a spacious green setting. Makes all the difference. The city was laid out as two distinct halves facing each other across the green plain of the Torrens River, with each half fully enclosed by parks. On a map, therefore, central Adelaide forms a large, plump, somewhat irregular figure of eight, with parks creating the figure and the two inner halves of the city filling the holes. It works awfully well.

I had no special destination in mind, but the next morning as I drove into the city from Tanunda I passed through North Adelaide, the handsome and prosperous zone inside the top half of the gigure eight, spotted an agreeable-looking hotel and impetuously threw the car at the kerb.'

I love his long sentences!

I am enjoying the book, but not quite as much as his 'Notes from a Small Island', which is about his travels around England. I have another of his books to read, waiting in the huge TBR pile!

If there is anyone out there who has still not done this, or who would like to, please feel free to share your current read.

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Rhubarb rhubarb. This is the weather. With custard even! Plenty of custard, in the form of wet & more wet. Winds, bursts of little gales. Then the sun comes out. The blue flashes. Puffy innocent clouds scud overhead.

"Ah!", you think to yourself. "This is Autumn. Crisp, sunny, coolish."

"The Epitome of Pleasure!"

Then the clouds thicken up, just like custard. They turn black, like burnt custard. They weep just a little. Then comes another downpour.

Then it all repeats itself. It is like being stuck in a bowl of bloody rhubarb & custard! I never could stand rhubarb! Nor can I stand custard!

BUT... I am not really complaining, because at least it is cool! Which is the main thing for me.

Puffy innocent looking clouds. They can be rhubarb & custard, before you know it!

PS. Who has laughed, along with me, to see dear old Flo BjelkePetersen saying she can't understand anyone saying Joh was a rogue!! Hahaha.


Roy Orbison, Falling


Thursday, December 13

Seriously Strapped for Time!!

My Gosh! I seem to have been inundated with Good Wishes, & Good Fortune, from wonderful Blogging friends!

It has all been while I seem to have been rushed off my feet, as far as finding enough hours in the day, to attend to all the things I want to do!

Bren, from Pieces From Me, gave me this award. I was amazed to receive this, as I just putter along. Bren & I have many differences in our ideas, but we each respect the other, & though we stand for differing beliefs our aim is the same in the end, & as she says, we are very very alike in a lot of ways.

Thankyou Bren. I will have to think about awardees.


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Tuesday's visit to the Coalface of Christmas, was rewarded in a way I find very hard to describe.

When we arrived home, I noticed a square cardboard box on the doormat. I could see it had a Customs declaration, & was so excited to find it was a package from Wanda, of Exuberant Colour, who had sent me the most wonderful collection of scraps of some of her wondrous stash!!

Wanda has been one of my first calls each day, ever since I first discovered her wonderful Blog, to check up on what lovely colourful creations she has posted. I love her quilts & her wonderful fabric stash, & her sense of colour, so vibrant, & varied.

Blog Friends have to be the most wonderful, generous people on the planet.

Feast your eyes on some of the fabrics Wanda sent me.

I have gone through them over & over, & have got all excited, dreaming up ideas of how to use them.
I spread them out on the carpet, & flexed the arthritic knees, to get down & really enjoy them!!


I feel I have displayed them poorly here, & have not done them all justice, so I will have to get sewing & show them in all their glory!
Of all the fabrics in the huge package, there are only 2 I have seen before, or have, & they are different colours, to the ones Wanda sent me.
I guess only another quilter or Fabriholic could understand the almost orgasmic thrill I got from all these wonderful bits & pieces!!

Gom sat in his chair, watching me happily playing about with them, & even he was impressed, as he loves colour, - the brighter the better!
Here is a Wandaful Block that Wanda has already constructed, which is lovely as it gives me direction on how to do those blocks. I have never tried them before...

Give me space & time!!
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I thought I had a day to spare, as it were, yesterday. Gom was taken out & away by our Daughter J, & I had 'time on my hands'.
Be sure the Cosmic Conspiracy To Piss People OffCCTPPO came out to play with me, & before I knew it the day had gone, & I was greeting the bleeding but happy happy shoppers home again.
Best laid plans & all that!
"A Day Well Spent" they said! Well goody for them!! haha.
I did manage to approach the sewing machine. I did manage to sew a little.
I did manage to fondle & admire Wanda's gifts.
I did rather enjoy the solitude, & the peace, & the music of my choice. So, not really a day wasted.
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Today has been another Allsorts Mixture.
We were to have SG, & we did.
A Sister, in NZ phoned me, - we spent literally hours! on the phone, catching up with each other's lives.
SG entertained Gom, whilst washing the outdoor setting. I think they may have quarrelled, judging by the body language, as a small boy hurtled past the computer room!! Huffy shoulders could be seen, washing hands, in very hostile mode!! Body language is sooo telling!!
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We had visitors, another phone call, a meal to organise..
Where did this day go???
Now. We are having thunderstorm activity again! Leo has come to lie at my feet.
The chorus of cicadas is quite deafening, as they seem to be hatching & singing? playing? roaring? croaking?.... what does that noise sound like??
Summer in Austalia?
Chris Isaak, Think of Tomorrow.