Simply a Moment in September

A different take on Simply A Moment, which is organised by Alexa,this month.  Over to the furriest member of the family:

I knew something was up when they woke me from my mid afternoon doze.  Have they never heard the expression 'Let sleeping dogs lie'?  I could tell from the excited tone of their voices that we were off on an adventure.  I ran up and down stairs while they muttered something about standing still or they would never get my harness on.  Harness?  Woo Hoo!  The harness means we're going in the car.  If it were just a walk it would be the lead.  I know it's hard to get the straps done up if I refuse to stand still but it's just too exciting to keep all four paws on the ground.  The door's open, I make my bid for freedom.  We're in the car - I'm in the back seat.  It's so unfair, I'm never allowed in the front seat and yet they head for the front every. single. time.  I did make it into the passenger seat of Nanny's mini once while she was folding down the front seat but I was quickly and if I may say, in an undignified manner, ejected and put in the back.
After a little while the car stops and my harness is unclipped from the seat belt holder.  I jump to the ground, give myself a shake and look around.  The Vets!  We're at the vets!  Happy Days!  I love it at the vets.  Come on, hurry up I need to get in there and soak up the admiration from the receptionist.  Honestly, these humans that own me can be very slow sometimes. 
I'm in.  The door's closed and yes, here comes the receptionist.  She's ever so pleased to see me.  I have a little preen.  Yes, I am gorgeous.  Yes, I've had a lovely haircut.  Yes, I am so sweet natured.  Yes, I'm here for my 2 year check up.  What?  Check up?  Does that mean they'll be doing unmentionable things to me to get my temperature?  Does this check up involve needles by any chance?  I look at my humans.  They didn't mention check ups.  They just said 'vets'.  I lose interest in the receptionist and investigate the waiting room.  Sniff all the bags of dog food, have a look at the dog toys on display.  Have a good look in one of those cat carry cases.  No cat in there though.  I love it when I come across one with a cat in it.  I can taunt them because they're in a cage and I'm not!  I can walk around and check things out, they're locked in.
Another person comes down the corridor.  She's wearing a medical coat.  She's got a stethoscope round her neck.  She looks like the lady that put that thermometer in my 'you know where' last time.  If she thinks she can get away with that one again, she's got another think coming. 
It's all going well, there's no temperature taking, a bit of lung and heart listening, she looks into my big brown eyes and my lovely sharp teeth and then out of nowhere comes a syringe.  What's she going to do with that? Ouch.  Excuse me lady but that was my neck you put that in. 
I'm down off the table now and the needle lady takes me off to be weighed.  I'm returned to Nanny who's been waiting for me in the surgery.  Apparently I've put on weight and am now at the optimum weight for my breed.  I have a horrible feeling that this may impact on the quantity of treats I'm allowed.
Simply a Moment - at the vets with Coco.

A week in the life

I've never taken part in a Week in the Life before and my brief experiment in the last 7 days has proved to me that I would be rubbish a doing Project Life. If I can't do a week properly, how would I do a year? I guess it's a matter of training yourself to take photos regularly of your day to day life but when you are doing something of your normal routine, you don't think to take a photo of it!
I'm beginning to sound like a student about to hand in some homework that she knows she should have worked harder on and is trying to think of a believable excuse.  Ahem, I left my Week in the Life on the bus?  The dog ate my Week in the Life?  I saved it on a memory stick and then I dropped the memory stick in a cup of tea?  OK, here goes:

 

It is very hard to close the kitchen door on Coco's sad little face when we leave for work in the morning and I am sure she spends her time alone plotting naughty things to do on our return.  On Monday she ran all over the sofa, threw the cushions on the floor and started biting one.  She's two.  She should have grown out of such things!  Spent my afternoon finishing off my mini book.

Coco sleeps in the kitchen overnight, but the minute we open that door in the mornings she is out of bed and up the stairs before you can say 'good morning'.  The temperatures had dropped overnight so, much to my husband's dismay, I put the heating on.  The school I work at is also the one that my daughter went to and there are some things in the school canteen that she remembers fondly so if I see them on the counter, I bring one home as a treat.  Vanilla cupcakes today with a mini marshmallow.

Wore a long sleeved sweater today for the first time in ages.  It was my day off so I went into town and tried to resist the pick n mix sweets.  By the time I saw them, I only had a few minutes left on my parking ticket so I didn't have time to indulge.  Wednesday evening out at Chimichanga restaurant with three friends.  My friend who is now officially an author brought us her one and only copy of her book that is now ready to go into proper publication.  Exciting times!  Sheila is about to start a new job at Cambridge University, plus it was Kim's birthday so we got a free bottle of wine to celebrate. 

I wore winter tights and closed in shoes for the first time this autumn on Thursday.  Coco was miffed that we were going out and leaving her home alone - again.  Chilly weather meant lovely comfort food for tea - cottage pie with runner beans from the garden.  I'd decided that it was time to get some exercise again, so I dusted the cobwebs off my trainers and headed to a Zumba class in the evening.  Only it wasn't Zumba, it was a new dance based class called Fitsteps!  Designed by two of the Strictly Come Dancing team.  Hard work but good fun.

Friday the 13th!  P went out to the shops and forgot his wallet so me and Coco had to go to the shops to take it to him.  He was supposed to be going to help me out and save me the time of having to go.  Turns out it took longer than it would have if I'd gone on my own in the first place ... Then home to ironing.  By 6pm after a busy week at work and doing my chores it was definitely 'wine o'clock'.

 I know that I'm not really in the age range that the marketing department at Ready Brek are aiming for but I do love it and it's the perfect breakfast for a chilly morning.  Then off to Waitrose to do the weekly shop.  The dog goes crazy when you walk in with 4 bags of shopping, the smell of food must be so tantalising for her.  So as soon as it was put away we took her out for a walk.  First time I've had to wear my wellies for a while!  P had been to pick some more blackberries and I froze 5 bags of them and cooked the last portion with some apple, ready to make a crumble on Sunday.  Phew - think I deserve a coffee by now.  A nice cup from the Nespresso machine, drunk while reading the magazine that comes with the Saturday newspaper.  We both fancied some Indian food for dinner but didn't feel like a take-away so we 'home cooked' one.  Using a jar of Rogan Josh sauce and some accompaniments from Waitrose.  Yum.

Remember those pesky butterflies?  They are still there, in fact there are a couple more every time I look.  I've suggested 'rounding them up' and putting them in P's new shed to shelter but he's having none of it.  Coffee in my favourite mug and a slice of M&S strawberry and vanilla Swiss roll.  2 for £2 - what a bargain and so delicious!  We were having pot roast beef for lunch and there was a nice variety of veggies to chop up to go in it.  When we are both busy and not taking any notice of Coco, she is prone to doing 'something' to get our attention.  Today she decided to empty all the blankets out of her bed and drag them into the dining room.  This afternoon, full of pot roast and blackberry and apple crumble with custard, we both sat in the lounge and read.  I finished The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton.  The first 'proper' book I've read in a long time (as opposed to kindle reading).  I loved it.  I really would recommend it. 

So that's my week.  If I did it again, I'd remember to take more photos each day and not just of food and drink! 

 

One photo - twenty words

Abi has challenged us to write a blog post with one photo and 20 words, see hers here

So, here we go

Mexican restaurant.  Celebrating with friends.  Seeing Dany's book in print, congratulating Sheila on her new job, happy birthday to Kim. 

 

Will you join the challenge too?

Ibiza in a book

So I have kept my good intentions and finished (almost) the mini book project that Karen taught at the crop on Saturday.  The eagle eyed will notice the lack of Paul Hollywood - although I do still have another Paul in there on some pages

Look - I have a cover.  You can tell it's mine because the layout of the words is different to Karen's.  She kindly calls it 'freestyling' - I call it making a mistake and only realising once the glue has dried.

Inside cover and page one.  You can see that instead of the glamorous Gracia and the celebrity, mine has me and my husband.  And the other side is a photo of the hotel taken from the beach.  Such a pretty location.

Ibiza has a bit of a reputation for being a bit of a hippy hang out still and there are lots of 'Flower Power' themed places and posters about (It's also got a reputation for being clubbing capital of Europe - trust me, we were far, far away from that side of the island!)I digress, the local beer comes in the prettiest bottles, you can just see it in the photo, the glass is coated in a white covering with floral design all over it.  The other photo is sunrise over the bay (we got up early on our last day to catch it).

A photo of 'my' Paul looking over the balcony by reception, just before we headed down to the jetty to catch the water taxi/ferry that you see on the other side of the book.  The lighthouse is on the approach to Ibiza Town harbour.

I grabbed a photo of Paul taking a photo of an interesting bench in Ibiza Town.  It had a sculpture of a famous local priest and historian fixed onto it.  Other side is a self timer shot taken on our hotel balcony!

Back to Ibiza Town and a picture of me and Mick Jagger advertising Pacha nightclub (note the Flower Power symbols in the background!)  We had lunch in a little square at a place called Cafe Tomato and the food was fabulous.  I picked up one of their cards and you can see it sticking out of the pocket behind the photo.  The observant amongst you will see a pretty little circular red, white and gold embellishment.  That was one of the little crafty bits that Deb Turtle kindly shared from her Mum's collection. 

As I photographed this I realised that I have one more photo to add on the left hand page.  The last photo is taken from the walkway between the hotel and the beach, where we often saw baby geckos scampering around in the grasses.  To the right of the photo was the hotel a la carte restaurant where I had the most delicious freshly caught tuna cooked in a yogurt sauces.  Yummy!
So that's it.  My book is very nearly complete.  Project finished and Ibiza recorded nicely!
Now, back to my quilting ...

 

 

Back to school

Going back to work has seriously intruded into my blogging time.  We've only been back a week and already we are counting the days to half term!  I normally only work 22 hours a week over 2 full days and 2 half days but I have ended up working every day.  I'd only been back 2 days and I offered to come in and do overtime.  I think they may have put something in the coffee to brainwash us! 

 

First week back is always the same.  Talks from the Head welcoming everyone back, congratulations on exam results, trying to guess when Ofsted will visit (we are due an inspection), every job given to us secretaries is 'urgent', a fire drill and the inevitable girl who finds it hard to go from a small village primary school with about 100 pupils in total to a large secondary with over 1000 students.  On Wednesday a little face peeped over the counter of reception, bottom lip trembling, tears in the corners of her eyes. "Could you ring my Mum please?"  The receptionist asked why she wanted us to call.  "I don't like it here, I want to go home."  Whilst we all melted inside at her sad face, she was told to go back to class, we were sure that by break time she would have found a new friend to spend time with.  A message was sent to her Head of Year and Form Tutor to let them know that she was a bit 'wobbly' and that a little TLC and gentle friendship encouragement may be needed, but we haven't seen her since so we hope she has settled in a bit now.  One out of 160 new Year 7s isn't bad going I guess.

 

So, yesterday was the Eclectic Keepsakes crop for September and you may be wondering how many completed projects I came home with.  I mean, I was there about 5 hours so there must be something to show for my time.  Mustn't there? Um.  No.  I had planned to spend the morning of 'free time' to get all my scavenger hunt photos in their mini album.  But then I popped into the kitchen to make a cup of tea and saw these

Wow!  Raspberry cupcakes.  Clearly counting as one of my 5 a day fruit and veg portions.

So a cup of tea and a catch up with Denise, noticing that Eileen was back from Scotland for a visit (the lengths people will go to to come to an EK crop), chatting to Sandie about her recent blog post ...  Open my bags, get the album out along with the photos, start trimming and sticking and then Karen said 'Oh, look what I have got here'

  An airmail package with an Arizona post mark!  Addressed to Karen, Denise and Me.  Happy mail indeed!  A quick photo opportunity and then we eagerly ripped the package apart carefully opened it.  A note from Deb saying that she wished to share some craft goods that had belonged to her Mum.  How sweet is that?  No photo of that note as I think my eyes may have come over a bit blurry at that point.  So we emptied it out to share - goodness there were a lot of things there

 

We divided everything by three and each went back to our desks with the thoughts of how blogging and crafting has put us in touch with such kind, generous and lovely people.  Which also meant it was time for another cupcake to compose ourselves

 

How gorgeously pretty are these?  And you know one of the extra benefits of sitting next to Denise?  Chocolate gives her migraines so I 'had' to help her out with the chocolate seashell on top of hers ;-)

 

So by now it is nearly lunchtime and all I have to show for my morning is 2 empty cake cases, an empty mug, a lovely lot of new crafting embellishments and about 10 scavenger pictures in an album.

 

Karen had designed a beautiful mini book for us to make in the afternoon.  It really was a work of art and when I have finished it - it will look like this

 

Actually, mine's not far off that and I do have all my pages inside and I could lie and tell you that this was my finished book

But if you look closely you will see pictures of Karen's daughter meeting the Silver Fox of the Great British Bake Off - Paul Hollywood, and I'd have to admit that this was Karen's original that we were copying!  So imagine this one, without the TV celebrities, and all the little extra tags and inserts and that is what mine looks like.  Each page has a gap at either the top or the side to slide tags, journalling or extra photos into and mine is literally at the 'bare bones' stage.  Cover and insides intact and attached but waiting to have all the extra bits added.  (I hate half finished projects so promise you that I will have my version available very soon.)  (Sunday Lunch may be Sunday Dinner today!)

Back home for a quick shower and change of clothes as friends were coming to pick us up for early evening wine and tapas at a local restaurant.  Followed by watching the catch up version of Strictly Come Dancing.  Overall, a pretty good day!  Hope your weekend is shaping up nicely too! 

Pick your Precious - September

An army kit bag - crammed full of letters.  Letters that start like this

 {My loving angel Val Darling! Thank you darling a million times for another lovely, loving letter, received with much delight this morning}

 

and end like this

 

 

{Always

With every ounce of love I have

from your devoted, adoring, ever loving husband}

 

Every single letter that was exchanged between my Mum and Dad during the war.  The letters tell a story of a chance meeting when my Dad was moved from London and stopped off in Essex en route to his new barracks.  A romance conducted over long distance; infrequent meetings dependent on where he was stationed; planning a wedding for when he was back on leave; waiting for the war to end to take their proper honeymoon.  Plans, hopes and dreams. Long letters; you can see how the ink has weakened in colour between first and last page as his pen emptied. Handwritten and saved for posterity.

 

I haven't read too many as they are clearly personal and I don't want to intrude into that.   But every now and again I will pull one out and read a few lines.  Glimpses into a world so very different to ours nowadays.

 

In a strange coincidence, the letter I picked out for this project was postmarked Edinburgh 1944 - whoever would have guessed that my son would end up living in the city where the grandfather he never met, and who he is named after, was stationed for a while almost 70 years ago?

This post is part of Sian's Storytelling Sunday series.  Pop over there and see what other precious items are being shared this month.

My month in numbers - August edition

Brought to you in conjunction with Julie Kirk's Month in Numbers challenge - you can find out all about it here ...

So as we pull up the anchor of August and set sail into the sunset it's appropriate to start with a photo of that sunset

which was the last in the 21 photos needed to complete Rinda's Scavenger Hunt. 

This month I had 31 days of not working and yet still being paid.  The major perk of being a secretary in a school.  The downside is that I am not allowed time off at any other time of year other than the official school holidays but let's not dwell on that.

The month started with 7 days in sunny Ibiza.  According to the in flight information screen that's just over 900 miles.  When we arrived at the hotel we were allocated room 101.  Hang on a minute.  According to the TV series, isn't room 101 where you put things you detest?  Didn't George Orwell invent room 101 as the place you put people to endure their own worst nightmare?  Well, my nightmare is lifts - can't bring myself to step inside one, so any room number that starts with a 'one' means I can walk to it via a staircase so that is fine by me.

For someone scared of lifts, staying in a hotel set into a hillside means there are a lot of steps to negotiate during the course of a day.  21 stairs between our room and reception.  32 stairs down to the dining room.  Another 19 stairs down to the bar/pool area.  Then another 21 to the terrace we used to like to have our sun loungers.  So with all that exercise how come I returned home to find I weighed 2lb heavier than when I left?

Number of books read - 4.  Quite a variety too.  First off was The Great Gatsby because although I had seen the film three times in my Robert Redford phase in the 70s, I had never actually read the book. Next up was The Abomination by Jonathan Holt.  It was one of the best books I have read this year and I strongly recommend it.  First of a trilogy, I can't wait for book two to be published.  Then I read the Little Coffee Shop of Kabul by Deborah Rodriguez which was an easy, good read and read within 2 days. The third was The Rose Petal Beach by Dorothy Koomson.  So good.  If you saw the Ice Cream Girls on tv, this is from the same author. Quite a few twists to the story. 

Moving on swiftly - I may be responsible for a wax candle shortage this month.  235 candles would bite the dust in August! 27 of them to a very special girl - my daughter.  How can I possibly be old enough to have a 'child' that age?

Meals out this month.  7 in Ibiza and 3 in England.

And a late inclusion.  16 butterflies found sleeping in our garage. The discovery of these was followed by the hysterical scream of 'We've got baby bats nesting in the garage - get them out!!!!'  Which was followed by a proper investigation, a sigh and a slight shake of the head and 'They're butterflies, Deb.  They aren't going to harm you.'  I'm still not totally happy about them being there but extremely happy that they weren't bats. 

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

So onto the communal count for this month. 

I'm throwing my hat in the ring for the earliest time I got up this month.  3.50am.  That was a night of very little sleep.  But in a good cause because I was booked in for an early flight from Stansted Airport! 

(It wasn't the earliest I was awake that night though and anyone with grown up children may understand this.  R had gone up to London with friends for a night out.  They had booked a minibus to take them back to a friend's house.  She was planning to stay overnight with that friend and then get a taxi home the next day. At the last minute she decided to come home after all.  The mini bus would drop her at the station and she would get a taxi home at about 2am - or 2.30am at the absolute latest.  I went to bed at 10pm to get a decent amount of sleep before the alarm went off at 3.50am.  At 2.45am I woke up.  Don't know why, just wide awake.  I knew that R wasn't home because she cannot come in the front door quietly and tends to put all the lights on in the house as she comes upstairs.  Looked at my phone.  No messages.  Wonder where she is. Lie wide awake for about 10 minutes.  Look at phone again.  Maybe I'll just call her to see how far from home she is.  No answer.  Whoever invented the silent button on mobile phones?  Then at just before 3am I hear the engine of a taxi outside, the slam of a door, the loud 'Thank you', the crunch of footsteps across the gravel path.  I get out of bed, tiptoe downstairs to try not to wake the dog and hear her mumbling outside as she searches for her front door key.  I open the door for her. 'Awwww Mum!' she says as she sees me, 'You shouldn''t have waited up.  'Night')   

Number of visitors to the house.  19.  Not bad considering we weren't here for a week of August!  However, 12 of them came in one batch for pre-going out drinks for our daughter's birthday.

So come on then, let's pop over to Julie's to see what numbers other people have come up with this month.