Sharpen Yer Hockey Sticks!!

So there I was on Sunday afternoon, spending a nice quiet time with my blogamigos, when I hear a loud mooing.

It gets louder, and louder...and louder...until next thing a big hairy head looks in the window at me!

Hells bells and buckets o' blood! Did I spend all summer working on my garden, and all autumn nurturing winter veg seedlings to have the whole bloomin' lot munchagobbled up in ten minutes flat- roots and all- by a bothersome bunch o' bovines?

Did I heck!

I don't keep a hockey stick in the front hall for nothing you know, and its not just hockey balls I hit with them either!

I tell you Queen Maeve and Granouille had nothing on the virago who belted out to protect her precious garden! Them cows never stood a whisker of a chance! I may have been the strongest hockey player with the worst aim in the history of the Grammar but the players in Connaught knew to run when they saw me coming...cows included!

Whew!

I hope those cows don't know that motto about 'he who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day' because I'll be waiting! I'm tellin' ya!

Harvest Service

Here's something to amuse you: I went out to empty the ash bucket into the compost bin this morning and, as usual, knocked on the bin to evacuate the mice before lifting the lid. You can often hear them skittering away but this morning the skittering was somewhat stampede-ish and I could feel it reverberating up through my feet! 'Janey!' I thought, 'some mouse!' Then I realised there was a cow behind the tree behind the compost....its OK Heckety, the mice haven't grown overnight!!!

Yesterday Morning the Children's Harvest Service went pretty well I think. My singers sang fine, and although they didn't all turn up, and there were several minor hiccups, I think they enjoyed themselves. I didn't manage to get a photo in between all the hopping on and off the organ stool and sorting out of queries, but I did get a few photos (when they were rehearsing) of a modern parable which Sos and B presented:
The Parable of the Gardeners.
Once there were two Gardeners who went out and got fine seed and good tools and came home and planted everything.
After planting, the first Gardener sat down for a cuppa tea, watched gardening programs on TV, and read gardening magazines to find out all about gardening. The second Gardener watered the plants, built shelter for them, and weeded around the seedlings.

At the end of the summer the first Gardener came out to inspect the plants and was dismayed to discover his were dead, but the second Gardener had a fine harvest from his patch of earth.

'What happened to mine?' asked the first Gardener.

'Its all about nurturing,' explained the second Gardener, 'you have to nurture your plants if you want a harvest.'

I think the Youth Worker wrote the script, and it was most effective as well as entertaining the children, as, needless to say, Sos and B played to the gallery somewhat!
The Youth Worker then gave an Address which was her 'Top Ten Things to be Thankful for'. She involved the children and they appeared to be paying attention throughout. She comes to teach in the school and the Secondary school, so they all know her and respect her which helps I think.

I hoped to get some more photos of the Church which was beautifully decorated, but there were people to speak to at the end and things to sort.

Today is a lovely bright, cold morning. I've just been outside and soaked my good shoes due to the heavy dew on the grass, gumboots would have been a good notion!

P.S. Lastnight when I got into bed I found two odd socks (not mine) and a stapled together Spanish vocabulary list. Since the Hub is away I did a Papa Bear impersonation, and the items were claimed in short order- but why my bed?

Mish-Mash!

I had a grand chat with the neighbours earlier, they are ever so friendly, as you can see!
Here's the progress on the quilt; I made the first roll-up yesterday. I also decided against doing a separate design on the green border, but am not convinced it was the right thing to do.

These two photos are in reverse order. The lower one I took when I was making up the goodie bags, and this one is the basket with 40 little goodie bags for my singers. I reckon a reward for the effort and the idea that Church can be fun are each good reasons for the treat. Some of them never attend Church except when the School is singing, others attend somewhere most Sundays.

Dilly arrived safely last night so we were cooking burgers for supper at nearly eleven pm! We are all glad to see her and the talk has been mighty! B said she had a cold burger and a bowl of ice-cream at 2am this morning! She was rather upset at supper as she'd had a rough day in school and was still processing it, so ate very little.

Today all three have gone to spend the day in town together and intend going to the cinema later. Its good to have sister time, anything which strengthens their relationship is useful. Dilly and B each need winter shoes which is a chore best left to them- I put a severe limit on the expenditure!

By the way does anyone out there have a good way of preventing one's dogs from re-arranging or running off with the floor rugs? They've only begun doing it the last two months or so but now they've started they find it a great game: I find the passage rug in the hall, the kitchen rug moves all over the place, the living room rug is sometimes in the kitchen and sometimes behind the sofa...if anyone is going to re-arrange items of furnishing I think it ought to be ME! I did tell them that but they just gave me 'The Stare'!

I've done the goodie bags, practised all the hymns for tomorrow, lit the fire, done the laundry...d'you know I think I can, with a CLEAR conscience QUILT! Yahay! See yez!