All this divided York and Lancaster..." William Shakespeare, Richard III

What a grey day! Again! I know that we are all 'desperate' for rain and that we are under a hosepipe ban in parts of the country and I know, I know that the ground water is still low and all this rain is very necessary to raise the levels - but I-a-m-h-e-a-r-t-i-l-y-s-i-c-k of the ****** stuff - gah. When I grew up in Africa, rain was seen as a gift......

I have found that my crafting mojo is in a bit of a lull at the moment. Several have done projects languish on my desk. Each one has a fairly plausible excuse for its unfinished state but I feel quite uninspired to actually surmount these rather small blocks. Hmm - note to self - *get on with it!*

On the positive front, our feline family are handling each other's presence so so much better. My mom came up with a brilliant analogy. She calls their hissing and spitting 'The War of the Roses' Which appropriately enough has the red rose of Lancashire warring against the white rose of York for the English throne in the mid to late 1400s.

You may still be wondering at the connection here - so here goes, Lily (red) was born and bred in Lancashire and Pan (predominantly white) was found in a shed in Yorkshire. Brilliant!

But, unlike the war of the roses, our little furry dispute seems to be receding, with only the occasional spat.  I know that food and play is a great leveller and the tastiest treats and the most exciting games soon break down barriers.

Flower Therapy❤❤

Having a rubbish week at work this week so felt I needed cheering up.


I went and found my 'best Cornishware' vase....

I 'picked' some late blooming roses......

Aaah that's better

And look - still lovely and fresh and not a dropped petal in sight!

So feeling the L♥VE  that flowers and crochet-therapy can bring.......

I  just had go and 'pick' some more flowers

Not quite there, but definitely feeling less rubbish - just might have to make a few dozen more!❤

 L♥VE

Apologies

Something happened to my last post and I am unable to repair the utter rubbish blogger has converted my waffling into - so in lieu and as a replacement to that gobbledy gook here is a photo!

Hopefully normal transmission will return shortly....................................

Do you MIND!!!??!

I needed an outfit for a 'do'.
I hate shopping.
I hate shopping for -  in particular - clothes.
I hate shopping with three men of various ages with various degrees of despair, disgust and desperation on their faces.
Guess what we were doing on Saturday afternoon.........

There was, however, one delightful moment in my afternoon of torture, and it goes like thus........

After, what seemed an age of trawling through clothes racks, looking at price tags, disregarding an item on colour, size, price, style, age group, suitability for the occasion, shape, shades, cloth, repeat-wearability, (this list can go on for ages, it all boils down to the fact, I don't like current fashion and current fashion doesn't like me....) I eventually found something I half liked, Himself bordering on  recklessness arising from despair - stony politeness agreed that I should try them on, whilst Eldest and Youngest fiercely began a mock battle beneath a rack of sparkly cocktail dresses. Leaving Himself to haul the marauding battlers off before the wildly rocking rack of expensive looking frocks were damaged, I shuffled off to the changing rooms to put myself through more personal anguish.

There is a bit of a queue.
Predominantly occupied by fake-tanned, bleached teeth, implanted, hair straightened glossy clones.
I am the token sore thumb.
I must be giving off an aura of country-bumpkinness as the clones give me a wider margin - I prefer to think of it as my force-field shield of grump.

I eventually am at the head of the queue and manage to find the first cubical is free.
It has a curtain
The curtain is about 5 cm too narrow.
So when I pull it closed.......the other side opens.
Deep joy.
I, after a futile attempt at stretching the thick black foul cloth to it's widest and fail. turn around and am met by three full length mirrors.
I change, hastily, avoiding my own eye contact - urgh, hate hate hate shop changing booths - they are so cruel!
All the time, I can hear constant nattering and gossip from the clones in the queue. Tacky vacuous remarks about absent friends or ex husbands, boyfriends, lovers, bosses.

Then, to my surprise, not only do the clothes I have tried on fit and look rather good - I actually find I have cracked my face with a small smile - oh, this is new!!

I start to twirl and admire the back when in the cubicle next to me I hear a deeply emotional whine ......

But I look lika lightbulb!..........

No ya don't luv, looks luvly on ya

.............But I do look lika lightbulb!

Turn round luvvy, lets look at t back, yeah, luvly

But it makes me look lika lightbulb!............

It don't, jus gerrit, it's fiiiiiiiiiine on ya

...........I look lika lightbulb,!it sticks oop at t back and it's 'orrible

Jus gerrit, fer goodness sa-a-a-ake , I've 'ad enuff an I wanna go 'oooome, gotta get ready for t'nite.....

I stood there, half undressed,  hand stuffed in mouth to stifle any laughter as the lightbulb and her impatient friend left.

Then, just to cut short my merriment and satisfaction that I am not the only one who suffers at the hands of clothing designers - the one thing between me and my dignity (that grotty curtain) was whipped open, by another clone.

..................oh sorray, fort it were emptay.................

..................!!!

05.07.10 - wow, what a weekend!

It's Monday and I am still on a high!

Why? well I will let the pictures do the talking......

A 9 year old Youngest's Mini garden gains a first and in his extremely blasé joy  says to his Dad - Told you that I would win...................

 Aaaah to have such strong self belief!

12 year old Eldest is equally pleased and surprised at gaining a 2nd place in his 'Child's Creative Container', particularly as this is the first time he has entered.

My garden (complete with missed  weeds and next door's dying rats**) came a very  unanticipated 2nd in the large garden category - wow - didn't see that one coming..... (Stands back in amazement with furrowed brow at the unexpected turn of events - but still delighted)

In the Adult 'Creative Container' I came away with a 1st for our 'plantified' up 2CV. I think what appealed was the retro-feel. Picnic basket, bunting,  crocheted picnic blankets, beads, guitar and flowers all helped.

The car also went down very well with all our visitors that came during the weekend. So many photographs were taken, toddlers posed, families lined up and grinned as cameras clicked away. The boot never failed to raise a smile at the 'nest' filled with our hen's eggs and the carefully collected weeds!

Even the local paper sent a photographer around and I had to pose with my car - she (the car) grinned happily and fluttered her eyelashes,  while I grinned uncomfortably because I was definitely on the wrong side of the camera lens!

But best of all - best of all - at the end of the presentation ceremony, our little car won 'Best in Show'........

Ooh err!!

***********************************************************

So much happened over the weekend. Later on in the week, I will post photos from the scarecrow trail, other beautiful gardens, owls and other suchlike delights, but until then!...........

**dying rats - (shiver up and back down spine) another story to be revealed! Urgh......