Me Myself and I

North Yorkshire that is. Keith has declared it as his own canine heaven and who could blame him. We are spending a few days close to Richmond, in a splendid log cabin. When I say log cabin, it is actually centrally heated, with a dishwasher and power shower and wifi- hardly roughing it. We've been here many times as it's perfect for us, only a few lodges, no entertainment (shudders!), and lots of lovely countryside to explore. Bliss.   The quaint little town of Richmond is on our doorstep, with loads of Georgian buildings and a fabulous market place. People are friendly and dogs are abundant. I could live here *sighs*, bit of a commute for himself though!   I sat on a covered deck to drink the first coffee of the day and saw Blue tits, Great tits, Long-tailed tits and Dunnocks. Also two fighting robins and a pair of Nuthatches, very exciting. Keith is delighted by the sight and smell of rabbits. Lots of rabbits. They obviously have him well sussed and bob out of sight if he ...

...Yep the big glowing warm thing is back! Sunshine I love you, with all your cancer giving badness, and your hints that spring may actually arrive. I took Keith for a long walk to celebrate, We ambled along the Grand Union Canal, Keith fell in twice, I stayed dry. The bloody dog has no sense.  No boats today, but ours is a neglected little arm during the cold months. The Canada geese were honking loudly, probably wondering what that whiffy dog was doing in their watery domain. We saw the 5 Collie family too, Perfectly behaved border collies that stopped dead and gave Keith the stink eye.  Like a canine Mafia. He hid behind me. Coward.    I also made a substantial dent in the bunting mountain, my sewing machine was glowing like a racing car brake disk, and so was I. Especially as the fuckwit dog was eating the bunting tape.  My search for a potential "thing" to wear in my hair updo for the wedding took a weird turn. I found a jaunty little fascinator/tiny ...

This weekend I lost my Ice Hockey virginity. OMG what a crazy sport, very fast, very skilled and very entertaining. The players are incredibly graceful when skating- both backwards and forwards, and the speed with which they turn is something else. The puck controlling is gravity defying and difficult to follow, much concentration is needed. My title refers to the total disregard for life and limb that is part of the game, players bounce off walls and each other, no wonder they wear so much padding. The only negative point was the cold, I thought I had enough layers on- wrong! Very good fun though, hopefully to be repeated.   Husband chops is off on his travels again, Zurich this time, So it's just me and the dog. The dog who reeks of garlic. Nice. As part of Keiths (the dog) training, we've been trying to find treats that he wants above every stick, leaf and distraction in the world. Having tried all the branded treats (organic, cheap, meaty, fishy, expensive, VERY expensive,...

Another day, another waffle. The cold continues, I was going to light the wood burner in the conservatory to soak up some much-needed sunlight, but it's soooo cold in there I thought better of it. Instead, i've been making 12 th scale furniture for my latest dolls house. The only problem is my random wiping of glue onto anything within arms reach- table, trousers, dog and somewhat accidentally my hair! Still, picking PVA off of things is rather satisfying. I gave up with the hair though and just stuck on a bobble hat (literally) for Keith walking duties.  The other half left at sparrow fart for Amsterdam then Germany, He's a busy boy. His carting went well although he "Could have gone faster". Oh dear, more planning and tactics to occupy his waking hours.   I put a little stale dog food on the bird table this morning and now I have my own murder of Crows. Oops. I do find them fascinating, they were lurking and egging (Boom Boom) each other on, to land on ...

The dog had a very quick walk this morning! All the lovely sunshine hid the arctic temperature outside. On the plus side, I did drag home a very large branch to be chopped and stored for the log burner. God knows what the neighbours think! They're probably used to me by now- or they've given up and moved.  Youngest daughters wedding draws ever closer. The bridesmaids were sorted out very quickly in a visit to the hell that is Milton Keynes. Dresses were chosen and modelled and looked beautiful.  That was the easy bit... The traffic around Central Milton Keynes was bloody horrendous. Considering it is a relatively new town ( not a city, just very pretentious) and has had a solid chunk of planning, rather than centuries of fiddling about, it is totally shit! I hate the place with a passion and only venture there for wedding attire and Ikea shopping carnage. I much prefer the internet for shopping, no chavs, monster baby buggies and ill-mannered brats getting in my way. Maybe I ...