Monthly Round Up (January 2012)

Happy New Year to you! Let's hope the world doesn't end in December as the Mayans are supposed to have predicted. Are you worried about it, Dear Reader? No.1 and her friends appear to be taking it all quite seriously, but I guess she has yet to live through the numerous predictions of world destruction that those of us of a more 'mature' vintage have done.

I recall previous scares, prompted by the quatrains of Nostradamus - which, of course, are open to (extremely variable) interpretation. I also recall the worries of doom surrounding the new millenium. In all these cases, Life has appeared to have carried on as normal. I know many scientists believe that the earth is capable of flipping its magnetic axis - in which case we might all fall off - but that hasn't happened yet either. The Mayan calendar is the reason for the current anxiety - it just ends in December 2012. I think I'll choose to believe that those Mayans just ran out of whatever materials they were using for their darned calendar! But maybe it would be good for us all to live 2012 like it might actually end in the final month of this year? I wonder how differently we might all behave and think?

You find me in a somewhat philosophical mind, Dear Reader ... can you tell?! Anyway, on to our 'doings' of January.

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Early this month I discovered that I have a problem with some medication. This is not a new problem since I have a history of reacting in bizarre ways to various (prescribed) substances. I received a repeat prescription for a drug I've been taking for quite a few years now; the tablets have always been white, but this latest lot were blue. A pale shade of periwinkle, no less (and no, it's not Viagra :p ). I quite liked the colour, but the colour didn't like me: I felt extremely peculiar! Along with the peculiarity, I experienced migraines of quite substantial proportions. So I went back to the pharmacist and asked her if she could swap them for the white tablets I have always had. Erm no, far too simple. No, I had to have an entirely new prescription and a new batch of pills had to be paid for. Suffice it to say that my repeat prescription now reads 'Blah blah, 25mg WHITE TABLETS' lest the same mistake ever be made again. What a faff.

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It was this month that saw me take my turn in the kitchen at No.2's football club. I have never, ever, before cooked so much bacon and so many hot dogs. I shared the duties with another mum, but she is a very strict vegetarian and wouldn't look at or handle the meat. She wouldn't even wash up the pans in which I cooked the meat.

I'm very glad I thought to take along No.1 and her friend 'S'; as their presence and help meant we never quite crossed the line between 'busy' and 'frantic'. When I returned home I smelled like a fried rasher myself, but hopefully our efforts raised a bit more money for the team's coffers. It was a shame they lost the game 3-5 and slipped a place in the league table as a result of the loss. They seem to be going through a bit of a slump at the moment, and have gone from 2nd in the league, down to 7th :( Let's hope they bounce back now we're into the second half of the season.

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No.1 had her first experience of sitting 'real' exams this month when she sat the first paper for her Biology, Chemistry and Physics GCSEs respectively. She was very disciplined over the Christmas holidays and in the evenings after school leading up to the exams - I was really impressed (and proud). Hopefully she will have done well (we don't get the results for quite a long time) but whatever the results, I know she did her best, and that's what counts. I think another batch of exams will be along in May of this year, so she has a couple of months of respite from revision. It's just back to 'normal' homework for the time being.

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I was talked into accompanying a friend to see a psychic medium this month. My friend felt like she was at a bit of a crossroads in her life and just wondered if she could gain any 'help' from this woman. I went in feeling quite sceptical about the whole thing, but ended the evening wondering how the hell she can have known some of the things she told us. The evening's conversations centred largely on my friend and her family and life, but she did say a couple of things to me which were of interest. She didn't tell me anything I didn't already know, but she did say things to my friend which later turned out to be shockingly accurate, and potentially life-changing. It's a funny old world, isn't it?

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I was very sad early this month to learn of the death of Harry Morgan, at the great age of 96. I was a youngster, but I absolutely loved the TV series M*A*S*H. It's a show I used to watch with my dad, who also enjoyed the dark humour of a comedy set in an American Army Hospital in the Korean War. Mr Morgan played the wonderful Colonel Sherman Tecumseh Potter from 1975 until the series ended in 1983: he won an Emmy for that role, and was nominated a total of 10 times for it. My favourite character was always Captain Benjamin Franklin Hawkeye Pierce (Alan Alda, of course) but Colonel Potter ran him a close second.

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I will leave you with some of my first entries into the 112 in 2012 project at Flickr. At the start of the year it feels overwhelming to have all those topics to fulfil, but I know from doing the 111 in 2011 last year, that as long as one makes regular contributions every week, the challenge is easily achievable. ( <--- I hope they're not famous last words!) If anyone reading would like to join in, please come along to Flickr and have a go - we'd love to have you along.

Technology

Winter

Chocolate

Reflection

A Shot In The Dark

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© Author

Monthly Round Up (December '11)

... Whooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooosh, went December. Just like that. One minute it was here, and the next minute it's almost gone!

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How was Christmas in your world(s), Dear Reader? It is never as enjoyable for me when I don't have Christmas morning opening gifts with my (not-so) smalls, although this time I wasn't as utterly miserable as I was two years' ago. Hopefully in another two years I will be better again. I did have a nice day and received some really lovely, thoughtful, presents from friends and family.

I even attended a couple of parties! Many thanks to C&J who have an annual Christmas Eve party, which is always wonderful - they are such good hosts. On Boxing Day our family party was not quite complete this year due to one family member having recently gone through a quadruple heart bypass operation and needing to be cared for. And another contingent of the family was missing due to a bit of a feud which developed during the course of 2011. We have always had such a close (extended) family; one which enjoys one another's company and especially looks forward to the tradition that is the Boxing Day gathering. Ahead of the day this year, many of us didn't know what would happen: In the event things went ahead much as usual apart from the absentees. We had fun playing a 'pegging' game: literally attempting to put surreptitiously attach pegs to one another's clothing, and then there were the stick-on false moustaches. Probably the least said the better on that score (although I have some fabulous photographs).

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I have some great news about my mum. Some of you might remember that last month she lost her beloved cat Pepsi. It was so sad. Anyway, she was horribly miserable without the company of a feline in the house. She didn't want to rush off and find another cat, but did call to make enquiries and register with both the RSPCA and the Cat's Protection League as someone who was interested, and might come and look at rescue cats in the new year.

Within a week, however, she was called by a lady at the CPL and told they had had to rescue 19 (NINETEEN) cats from a single house and wondered if Mum could possibly give a home to one of those? An influx of 19 all in one go is quite a lot. Anyway, Mum couldn't say 'no', could she? Off she went with her cat basket, and came home with this little lady:

Ladies and Gentlemen, please meet Miss Daisy. The vet thinks she is around three or four years old, and that she has had a litter of kittens at some point. She is very friendly, and has taken a particular shine to No.1 who mews at her in the way of Simon's Cat, and Miss Daisy mews right back ... They sit there talking cat! Daisy appears not to know how to 'play' and, we suspect, has never really had much (if any) one-to-one attention. She and Mum are gradually getting to know one another and whilst Mum still misses Pepsi dreadfully, having this other little cat is helping. And Daisy desperately needed a home - so they are each helping the other.

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Speaking of No.1, she has spent much of the Christmas holidays revising some modules for her GCSE Science. She has three exams in January - one in Biology, one in Chemistry and one in Physics. Revision is something she hasn't really got the hang of until recently. It really is something of an 'art' isn't it? She just suddenly seemed to understand that it was a 'game' of sorts in that one has to memorise the information to answer the questions in the exam paper, and then one can largely 'forget' the knowledge (unless, of course, it needs to be utilised for one's future career). I think it fairly safe to say that science probably won't feature in No.1's future career path, but she does need to achieve the qualification, if at all possible. Thus, the usual socialising of the school holidays has had to be somewhat forgone. I've been really quite impressed with the effort she's made - fingers crossed for the actual exams.

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Earlier this month, my brother and I took No.1 and her friend 'S' to the 'Enchanted Christmas' event at Westonbirt Arboretum. They have a shortish trail around which people walk, and from where they can see the special lighting effects they've used on various trees. I took a zillion photos but, sadly, haven't yet had time to even properly look through the memory card. These two might give you a teeny idea of the sorts of things you can see there:

I do recommend it if any of you think it would be a nice thing to do over Christmas 2012. It's especially magical for kids. There are a couple of interactive things there - one where kids got to play some drums and with each hit, lights illuminated a patch of lawn. The harder the drums were hit, the further the lights would 'go' across the ground. It was fun. And towards the end of the trail, there was a very cool device through which kids could project their face(s) on to the trunk of a mahoosive tree. I have hopefully got shots of all this, but as I said, have yet to access them.

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Late this month we went to the Oxford Playhouse to see this year's pantomime: Mother Goose. I have never seen Mother Goose before, and was unfamiliar with the story. It was a wonderful couple of hours - lost in silliness and the suspension of the trials and tribulations of 'real life'. The theatre was absolutely packed - not a single seat was empty. We were sat behind three women, who, we assumed were somehow related to (or friends of) the actress who played the 'Good Fairy of Garsington'. Every time said fairy appeared, they whooped and hollered at the tops of their voices. Given that one of them looked just like Miranda Hart (but wasn't), we found them a very funny side-dish to the main offering on stage.

Mother Goose's son, Silly Billy

Mother Goose and her geese

The Good Fairy

The Wicked Witch of Walberswick

For us, Ashleigh Gray, who played the Wicked Witch of Walberswick, stole the show: she was absolutely brilliant. Chris Larner, in the title role of Mother Goose was also very funny - especially when he underwent his 'transformation' to beautiful. The last time we went to a panto - three years ago - No.2 decided not to come with us as he felt it was too 'girlie'. When we told him afterwards what great fun it had been, he vowed to come next time. He did, and he had a great time, booing, cheering, shouting and singing along with the rest of us.

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I finally finished my '111 in 2011' project this month, these are the final three images I uploaded for that:

Children's Toy

Buttons

The End (End of Bee, End of Summer, End of Project)

A new project '112 in 2012' begins tomorrow. If anyone reading would like to join in, you can find the group at Flickr by clicking here. They are a great bunch of people, and I look forward to challenging myself with the list over the coming 12 months. I dare say I shall bore readers here with the pictures too. Bad luck :p

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Finally, I'd like to wish anyone reading this twaddle, a very Happy New Year. May 2012 bring you health, wealth and happiness in at least equal parts. Thank you for reading. xxx

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© Author

Montly Round Up (November '11)

Hello peeps - how are you? It got dark very quickly here in the UK once the clocks went back, didn't it? But even though it's darker, it hasn't really been very cold until the last few days, so it's a weird sort of November. Anyway, on to our 'doings':

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We have had cause to smile at Georgie-cat this month. She has never had a cat bed or basket because I once bought one for my first cat, Guinness, which he never, ever slept in. Thus I deemed it a waste of money. However, this month No.1 had a new pair of boots. Nice, aren't they?

The box in which these boots were housed before they became No.1's, was left by the patio doors so I could put it out in the recycling bin the next time I went out to the bins. It had only been there for a few minutes when Georgie-cat decided it would make the perfect cat bed. She has been sleeping in it every day ever since. Never mind that it's not quite big enough other than if she's curled right round - she has adopted it. I don't have the heart to throw it out, and it's still sitting down by the doors as I type. But I have decided to buy her a 'proper' cat bed for Christmas - I hope she'll transfer her affection from the box to the bed.

She is dozing here, rather than squinting malevolently at me

But it hasn't been all good for Georgie during November. She developed a problem with her skin, which the vet said he thought might have been triggered by bites of some kind. Georgie has never had fleas or anything else like that before. She doesn't let any other cats in our garden (Gabriel has long since been banished) so we're wondering if she got something from Kevin the hedgehog?) She was really miserable in herself, and seemed unable to sleep properly because of itching. Bless her. The vet gave her an injection to try to quell the itching, and we put some special stuff on her that would kill any parasites, and within 48 hours she was much more at peace. She's been very cuddly since then - I think she's grateful that I made it stop, bless her. In the last few days I've noticed she's scratching more again, so I hope the darned things (whatever they are) aren't back. Maybe we should stop her going out into the garden? Or maybe I need to spray the bit where Kevin comes in, with some kind of spray? Any advice that anyone reading this might have on the matter, would be very gratefully received.

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No.2 has had another successful month. He and three of his friends were picked to represent their school (two teams of two) at the regional Maths Challenge competition. There were two teams from each of 42 schools at this particular competition, and No.2 and his friend 'E' finished in 6th place overall. Isn't that brilliant? I am so proud of them and how well they did.

No.2 has always been good at numbers - a trait he shares with his sister. Since 'numbers' is not particularly a forte of mine (C grade at 'O' Level!), I can be reasonably sure that they inherited this talent from their father. No.1's latest Maths homework centred on trigonometry: Needless to say she went to her dad's to get some help with that. :D

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On the subject of No.1, she has had a difficult month. One of her very closest friends left to live in Australia. His father has an initial one-year contract in Brisbane, but there is the possibility that they will stay. He is a lovely lad, who spent a lot of time here with us, and she often went to his house to spend time with his family. Isn't it wonderful when one meets a friend with whom one 'fits' with such comfort? It's not something which happens too often in life, and I'm glad she got to have the last year with him in her life.

There have, of course, been lots of tears and sadness at his leaving. On the day we said goodbye it wasn't only the kids who were crying; his mum and I were both sobbing too. I have pointed out that with the internet, they can be much more closely 'in touch' than would have been possible if I had had to lose a friend to the other side of the planet, when I was her age. But she's never been without the internet, so the comparison doesn't really mean much to her. With Facebook and Skype, they are able not only to be in 'instant' touch, but to actually see and speak with one another. Since my kids are both off school today, courtesy the strike by public sector workers (they have my sympathy, I must admit - I'm pretty certain MPs won't be voting themselves the same 'deal' they wish to impose on those striking today!) we spoke to Oz this morning. The boy sounds very down; for his sake I hope he settles sooner rather than later. I hope he and his family enjoy their time in Australia, but I also selfishly hope that they'll come back to live in the UK once work commitments have been honoured.

Before he left, I made him a monkey - my first in a long time. Purple because it's his favourite colour, and I'm happy to say he loved the monkey on first sight. He named him Gavin:

I've never used felt on the 'face' of a monkey before, but this sock was so dark that the usual black button eyes I like to use, just didn't show up. I quite like the end result and might use it again some time.

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The month has ended on a very sad note for us as a family. My mum's lovely cat became ill yesterday morning - she seemed to be having trouble breathing. Mum called the vet who asked for Pepsi (the cat) to be taken in immediately. As soon as they saw her they whipped her into a back room and put her on oxygen, and told Mum it looked very serious. They asked to keep her to do some tests, so mum went home and called me to tell me what had happened. I was in the queue at a checkout in Waitrose when I got a text saying 'Pepsi has got to be put to sleep'. I rushed round to find an extremely upset mum who told me Pepsi had heart failure and her lungs were filling with fluid which is why she was having trouble breathing.

The weather was blowing a gale and tipping down, but mum wanted Pepsi buried in her garden, so before I drove her to the vet's we went out in her garden and dug a large hole. The rain on our faces, merged with the tears. Once it was done, we went to the vet's where they brought a very lethargic but more peaceful cat in to say goodbye. I don't think I will ever forget Mum putting her hand down on the counter, palm up, and Pepsi putting her paw in mum's hand, as though to hold hands. Mum thanked her for being such a wonderful pet, and then Pepsi drifted off into an everlasting sleep.

Pepsi

Mum had taken Pepsi's favourite blanket, so the vet wrapped her in that, and Mum held her on her lap whilst we silently drove home. We went back out into the rain and laid her in her grave before coming indoors and crying together. Pepsi and Mum were so suited - Mum took her in as a 4 year old cat whose then owners were going to send her to the cat's refuge because they were having a baby and didn't want a cat in the house. Nice, eh? Anyway, Pepsi lived a wonderful life at Mum's and in return gave Mum constant companionship and affection. She will be missed so much. RIP Peps, you were a sweet-natured star.

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I haven't added many photos to the 111 in 2011 group this month - I only have a handful left to 'do' to finish the project, so will definitely get it finished before the end of the year. Instead of posting pictures from that, I'll leave you with some photos I took when I visited some woods I'd never before been. The sun was shining on the heavy dew, which provided my camera with wonderful 'bokeh' wherever I turned my lens. Suffice it to say, I shall definitely be going back to this place again at some point in the future.

© Author

Montly Round Up (October 2011)

Hello ... hello ... hello ... hello ... hello. Did you hear that? That was the echo around my hollow-feeling blog. I wonder if I'll ever get back to blogging the way I'd like to? In the meantime, thank you for reading, whoever is reading. Yes, I know this post is late - the last week has been so busy, I just didn't get time to witter on. Sorry 'bout that. How was October in your parts? Like September before it, October has seemed to whoosh past at a rate of knots.

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Being late with my post does allow me to post a picture of our pumpkin this year - No.2 named him Bernard.

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Firstly, I would like to thank Lesley at Tintock Tap for helping to sort out my saggy sidebar issue for me. She suggested that my width might be a little too large (we're talking blog, but actually we could be talking body too :-/).

I had played around with sliding my sliders before with no joy, but it was getting her comment which led me to examine matters rather more closely. I looked at some old blog posts and discovered that my sidebar was fully present and correct where they were concerned. Thus it was a matter of working out what had changed. I finally twigged that it was the images I post directly linked from Flickr which were the problem: They were just too darned big in the girth! Once I went through and reduced the width within the html of each image, it allowed my sidebar to rise, pheonix-like, back to its proper place. Phew, what a relief. Thank you Lesley - I very much appreciate your help - x.

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Secondly, the fat quarters from my last post. Jane, Josie and Angie all expressed an interest in adopting them. No.1 and I assigned the number '1' to Angie, the number '2' to Josie, and number '3' to Jane and then asked No.2 to pick which number would be the winner. He chose number 3, so Jane - the fabric will be on its way to you as soon as I've found out your address. I know you'll be able to use it in your fabulous quilts.

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No.2 has had a fairly successful sporting month. He captained the school cross country team early on in October. Eighteen teams were entered, and his school's boys team came fourth from 18 teams. The girls did even better with their second place (and that was just pipped on the line!) He also captained the school football team in a friendly game against another school team. His lot didn't win, but I know he enjoyed the experience of captaining the side. Something he probably won't do after this academic year, as he heads off to 'big school' next September.

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On the subject of No.2, he had another birthday this month - ELEVEN. How the hell did that happen?

This year, he had a Just Dance party. Do you, Dear Reader, have 'Just Dance' on Wii? It's a fantabulous thing - you get to make a total eejit of yourself whilst you try to copy the dance moves on your TV. Everyone else in the room gets to wee themselves laughing at you whilst you're doing your best to shake it all down. It's a win-win situation!

No.2 invited a small group of friends round to our house for the party. We had made a sort of 'league' beforehand, and that turned out to be a jolly good thing. We had everything printed out on paper, and No.1 and her friend 'S' wrote down the scores as the boys went along, dancing their socks off. The thing with boys is to keep them focused and entertained, and we managed both those things. It was a tad embarrassing that No.2 managed to win the competition (even though some of the dances were ones he'd never done before), but he shared his prizes with everyone, so that was ok.

We stopped for tea, during which they all watched an episode of Miranda (such fun!), and then had a final bonus competition which No.1 and her friend entered too. They all left happy and knackedered, which is a good result all round; and one of No.2's friends had such a great time, that he too wanted a Just Dance party for his birthday - I can totally recommend it!

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I had some shocking news this month, when the Chairman of Camera Club called me one Friday evening. He was calling to tell me that our Club Treasurer had died the day before. Very sad news in any circumstances, but he had been at the Club on the Tuesday evening of that week - feeling fine. Forty Eight hours later he was dead. I feel so sad for his family and close friends - what an awful shock for them all: Mike was a good, kind, warm man, and I'm sure they will miss him horribly.

The news left me very pensive. Sometimes news of an unexpected death gives us a kick up the backside in the matter of Life, doesn't it? After hearing about Mike, I was once again reminded that Life needs to be lived every day. We don't have forever.

Then my friend 'F' called to tell me that her lovely friend 'M' had died. The lovely friend who is the same age as us, and was diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer just three months ago. She leaves two teenagers and a heartbroken husband.

This was the also the week in which Steve Jobs, the co-founder, former chairman and CEO of Apple Inc. died. Mr Jobs was, by all accounts, an extremely clever inventor - a visionary and an electronics expert who understood the concept of style as well as all that boffin stuff that inventors 'do'. He had lived with pancreatic cancer for 7 years before his untimely death, and had had many words to say, before he died, on the subject of life and death. Particularly inspiring was the following:-

"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true. Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

Wise words indeed, don't you think? I hope Mike, 'M' and Steve Jobs all rest in peace, and that their friends and families manage to cope with a life without their loved one(s) in it.

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Another death this month upon which I have to comment is that of Sir Jimmy Savile OBE. He died just two days prior to his 85th birthday, after having been in hospital with pneumonia. His nephew was reported to have said that he spoke to Sir Jimmy a few days before his death, at which time he said 'I'm nearing the end of the tunnel'; God bless him. I never particularly warmed to Sir Jimmy during his lifetime, but admired enormously the vast amount he did for, and achieved on behalf of, various charities over the years. He seemed a bit of an odd character, but a proper British Eccentric is not to be sneezed at, is it?

It ages me horribly, but I must confess that a couple of friends and I once wrote to Sir Jimmy's TV programme 'Jim'll Fix It'. We were, of course, mere tiddlers at the time. We wanted to ride a three-seated bike in a race against The Goodies, who often rode such a contraption on their TV programme of that time. We all thought it a great idea, and that it would make marvellous TV. Today, of course, I thank my lucky stars that we never made it to the screens of the nation - can you imagine the embarrassment?!

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I have continued to upload images for my 111 in 2011 project at Flickr this month - although for the last week haven't uploaded anything because Flickr wouldn't let me leave comments on the pictures of others. I shall try again tomorrow. Anyway, I'll leave you with some from the 111 Project this month:-

Household Appliance

Sunrise or Sunset

Vintage

Friend(s)

Hot (Scotch Bonnet Chilies)

I now have just six more shots to upload to complete the project! See you next month ... take care :) xx

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© Author