Category: These funny little things

Miaow!

My houseguest would like to say hi:

20170502_190817

So, here I was reading up and planning to have guinea pigs, when this adorable guy arrived. He’s been a regular fixture for many weeks now since he first “dropped in” at the end of last year but I don’t think I’ve introduced him on my blog before.

20170416_151516

He has previously belonged to at least 2 other households in my block. He’s getting on in years for a cat – we think he’s about 10 years old – but he can still cause enough mischief, between naps that is! I started out agreeing to look after him and feed him over a weekend in the winter, when his owners had serious problems and couldn’t look after him. Circumstances were such that they didn’t collect him after the weekend. They didn’t come back for a fortnight and by this time he was growing used to my flat and, I think, to more regular food and playtimes than he’d been getting.

We have come to an arrangement where I am the main person to feed him and look after him but he goes between my flat and is previous / other home. The couple that had him before are still in difficulties and can’t care for him. So it helps us all, I hope.

I love him. He’s surprisingly affectionate. He loves cuddles. He loves playing with his toy mouse. He usually likes being combed. He even “holds hands” tapping me gently with his paw then letting me take it in my hand.

20170428_212017

He is enchanting to watch when he’s napping, curled up so comfortably and trustingly on the seat beside me, or even in my arms, purring softly, then snoring not so softly, body rising and falling with his breath, smiling (yes really), little pink paw pads uncurling as he stretches out from time to time.

20170406_212242

He is bringing me lots of happiness and I love that I can care for him and make him feel safe.

Ginny Xxx

 

Meet Bert

Hello. Meet Bert.

No, not that Bert! (NCIS joke, sorry.)

I have a way of naming inanimate objects, especially in the kitchen. This is my slow cooker, Bert:

20161224_222219.jpg

I’ve had Bert for a year but only today taken him out for his first use (and naming). How bad is that, I know. That’s how reluctant I can be to cook for myself and I’m trying to break that. Hopefully, Bert is going to cook a nice soup tonight, for tomorrow’s buffet dinner. I know I’ll be up til late finishing preparations for tomorrow so I can keep an eye on it. It takes 3 hours.

Two friends will be coming tomorrow, one when she finishes her shift at the hotel where she works, and the other will arrive earlier and we’ll go to Mass together. He has had an indescribably difficult time recently so I’m glad we can celebrate a little together.

I realise soup (and hippos) is a fairly un-festive topic for Christmas Eve. A more appropriate post follows very shortly!

Wishing you a happy evening…

Ginny xxx

Clip from NCIS – possibly series 2 episode 23 according to YouTube, though I am not sure about that, I think it is series 3 ; with thanks to MetalRixer for the extract. NCIS directed and produced by Donald Bellisario / Don McGill, property of CBS / Channel 5 and respective artists.

31 Days of Summer Lovin: Day 11 (sorry!) – fun!

31 Days of Summer Lovin: Day 11 (sorry!) – fun!

img_7059-4

I’m sorry for missing days again. I’ve decided I’m going to post for the days I can but probably not all of them. There’s a lot going on for me at the moment taking all my energy and when I can’t get out much it’s hard to find a photo each day. I don’t like giving up part way through but at least this way I’m not totally giving up!

Great thanks still go to Soul Seaker for creating this challenge. Even though I’m not doing all of it you’re still opening my eyes and making me smile at things I might not have noticed otherwise.

Today is “Fun” so here is a funny -especially for Lord of the Rings fans:

the-hobbit-funny

[Photo/ meme is not my own; it was sent to me, originally from funnypicsplus.com]

I must have had it on the brain since watching The Hobbit on TV the other night. It’s just my sense of humour. But I’ll stop there cause all the good puns Aragon already….

Ginny xxx

 

“In a most delightful way…”

“In a most delightful way…”

“Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, in a most delightful way!”
(Mary Poppins)

Channel 4 airs a programme called “Gogglesprogs” which is an off-shoot of “Gogglebox”. Children are filmed watching and reacting to a selection of television programmes from the previous week.

Tonight the children were watching “Mary Poppins”. The nannies started blowing away from the Banks’ front door as Mary Poppins arrived. “That’s so unrealistic,” complained one child. Later, during the song “A spoonful of sugar”, one young boy mused “Do you ever think [Julie Andrews] was on drugs when she made this?!” and a girl worried, “A spoonful of sugar? That’s a LOT of sugar!” (Oh, do we have to have a modern health conscious version these days? Just a spoonful of low GI anti-oxidant kale juice with whatdoyoucallit berries…)

I laughed but also wondered whether we’ve lost the magic along the way somewhere!

Nevertheless, I was pleased to see that most of the children quickly had the measure of “Made in Chelsea” and how staged and false the interactions are. It worries me that they have such young children watch this kind of programme (the youngest must only be 7 or so), however saying that, they seemed eminently sensible in their judgements!

Ginny xxx 🙂

Ducks growing up!

I know this is random but it was very cute and I thought it might make you smile.

A couple of weeks ago I shared a picture of a family of ducks on the river.

Well, passing that way again, I noticed the little family settled down for the evening on the river bank. Mummy duck seemed to have between ten and twelve ducklings! I wasn’t quite sure and didn’t want to get too close in case I should disturb them. Nevertheless mother duck certainly has her hands (wings?) full.

20160609_195542.jpg

20160609_195551.jpg

Ginny xxx

PS – Unfortunately the river gets very dirty in this spot. To my surprise the ducks actually seem to enjoy eating the green algae that grows on the surface!

Why did the goose cross the road, and other stories

Q – What’s the difference between a Scottish man with a slight cold and an English man with 7 days’ holiday?

A – One has a wee cough, the other has a week off.

I hear you groan 🙂 That was one of the first jokes I learnt to tell as a child. (The other was what do you call a lavatory that keeps coming back to you? – A loomerang. Yep sorry about that. …)

Moving swiftly on! I’ve just had a week off myself and go back to work tomorrow. It was exceptionally bad weather until Sunday afternoon. On the news they said it was colder in my region one day last week than it was on Christmas Day! That same day my bus was delayed because there was a flock of geese that had escaped onto the main road and caused pandemonium. The bus driver said it was a shame it wasn’t really Christmas as we’d have got rid of the problem quite quickly (goose anyone?!)

My friend came to stay for two nights. She was my first overnight guest since I moved to my flat over a year ago. It’s a big step on for me that I was able to have someone stay over. My anxiety has always previously been so high that I could not cope and had to be able to escape from company after a few hours. I did have times I struggled and I was very tired from trying to make sure I stayed “okay” but we had fun together. My friend is in her eighties – she’s my friend L’s nan and I’ve been blessed to come to know her family over the past few years. They really make me feel like an adopted family member. I’m so thankful for all of them. We don’t see each other as often as we’d like as we don’t live very close by anymore but still the friendships have stayed strong and readers of this blog will know that true lasting friendships are rare and precious to me.

Also in my week off I’ve been able to make an effort to get on top of housework and clear my very tiny garden which I had not cared for properly since the winter. I am not a gardener and don’t enjoy it but I’m thankful for my outside space and try to keep it tidy. It really is very small.

Dad came to visit yesterday afternoon.  We had a coffee and walked through the park in the sun back to my flat. We had pasta bolognese for lunch (second in my Ten Dishes challenge) and a good talk in the afternoon. He’d just been on holiday with my step mum which they’d enjoyed. I’m thankful that I feel closer to my dad again now and more able to be curious about his life and express how things really are in mine.

This coming week I need to start a creative project. One of my colleagues is retiring at the end of this month. My other colleagues and I are putting together a scrap / memento book as part of her leaving present. We are going to decorate a page each for her. Some people are sewing, some embroidery, some photo collages – I’m going to put together some decorative text and decoupage based around one of her favourite songs. Updates to follow!

I hope you’ve had a good day. What do you like to do in your holidays?

Ginny xxx

 

 

 

Hi there little ducks!

Hi there little ducks!

Sometimes I like to go for a walk along the nearby river. This mother duck was just bringing her ducklings for a dip as I passed. They were remarkably sociable and very cute and fluffy! It seems quite late in the year for such little ducklings, don’t you think? I’m not sure but I’d have thought they’d have hatched earlier.

(It was not easy to get a good photo as they swam so fast.)

Ginny xxx