Scrabbles...

Youngest has acquired a couple of new hobbies over the Winter which entertain both her and the rest of us.

When she was really sick in January Eldest came home for a week and one day when one was miserable and the other was bored they thought to rummage in the Games cupboard. Behold! a rather battered Scrabble box, long forgotten. We used always to take it camping with us so it has covered much milage in both East Africa and Ireland.

Well, once again we are being regularly challenged to pit our skills against the little green bag of tiles....only a few more categories than what it says in the book of Instructions are now banned....swear words, slang from movies, text spelling and shortened words...things that never occurred to them in their innocent youth!!

I was recently laughing at Amanda referring to her dog, Ruby, as being 'low slung', but Heinz57 has a similar problem ...legs too short for the depth of his chassis!

As a result, whenever he returns from a particularly muddy walk, Youngest picks him up at arms length, and dumps him in the bath for hosing down! That way he, and the water, are contained despite the fact that he runs back and forth in the bathtub and scrabbles to get out before the water is turned on.

(As you can tell, the triffid needs trimming!) I know it was mean taking a photo of a brassed off dog, but he looks awfully funny in the bath.

After a rub-down he takes off into the kitchen and races round and round the table until he's puffed- we call it doing the Ascot! Then he goes into the sitting room, puts first one side of his head on the floor and zooms up and down the room several times, then the other side ditto. After that, he jumps up and down and dances on his hind legs...all this at top speed and without pause- by which time we are just about sick with laughter!

Funny how some animals love playing to the gallery...dog like owner, I guess!!

About Water, sorta...

This is going to be one of the most disjointed posts ever, but there are several things on my mind so I thought if I wrote them down they would clarify...or at the least, I would so muddle you, dear readers, that we would all be disjointed together!! Makes us sound like a group of neglected dolls, doesn't it!!

There is a sort of mad line of thought here...mad? Heckety? You've gotta be kiddin' me!...

To start at the beginning, I am trying to make more of an effort to keep up with the 'Bible in a Year' readings, since sporadic wouldn't even begin to describe last year's progress.
So far, not good. I began on the 3rd (well, you saw how Jan 1st was for me...), and last night had to give up as the Hub was telling silly jokes and I couldn't concentrate (hey! do I get brownie points for spending quality time with him??)

ANYHOW, caught up this morning with a wonderful verse- shut your eyes and listen to this:

'If you had responded to my rebuke,

I would have poured out my heart to you

and made my thoughts known to you.'

Proverbs 1 v23.

The note says that this verse concerns God's wisdom. Wisdom is like a fountain whose words would pour out in great streams, constantly refreshing and strengthening us.
Isn't that a lovely mental image? I love fountains, and waterfalls, and streams and even the springs that seep through the ditches when it has rained a lot. Imagine if all that water was full of God's words and we cold stick our hands under to catch them, or our heads under to have our minds filled, or drink to be filled up!

Love it!

The next thought came when I opened the curtains and saw the rain pouring down, and another dark, grey day. Not that I mind, since I plan to do inside things today and Youngest is working her way through the boxed set of 'Hornblower' she got for Christmas, blood-thirsty child! And despite the snow, its been dry enough this winter and the rain is good.

But that's merely an observation, here's the thought:

I so want a poly tunnel for me veg...regular summer readers will know that I get a bit obsessed with 'me veg' when the weather is warmer...But the thing which has bothered me about a poly tunnel is all the watering necessary,which seems a contradiction in the usefulness of it?
I've been trying to work out how to collect the water and store it, but haven't come to a solution (you realise there'll be no buying fancy equipment here, its got to be constructed from either junk, or cheap stuff) and then BINGO!! I opened a Permaculture Magazine which had got buried under the Carol Service Music (yeah, yeah, and 'tidy' is my middle name...) and inside was the answer- an underneath reservoir! (Gallery's a bit tricky to navigate but worth it if you are interested- its 'greenhouse' you want.)

Whoop-di-doo!!

And the writer is in Scotland, so if it worked there it'll work here...now I need to work on the Hub, and then persuade the Calry Church-Warden that he'd love to come and dig a hole in our garden with his nifty little digger yoke!!!

And just to finish, here's a joke a visiting Organist told us on Sunday:
Definition of an 'expert':
an 'x' is a very small insignificant thing, and a 'spurt' is a drip of water under pressure.
Therefore, an 'expert' is an insignificant person under pressure!

Warned ya it was disjointed!!!

Of Water, Wonky Elephants and Wits...

Uh...what happens if one accidentally waters the broadband yokemibus connector instead of a pot plant? I kinda...missed...

Remember the shopping tote I was wondering what to do with?

Well I added appliqué and this is the finished result- can you tell what its meant to be? The Hub said it looked like a wonky elephant...honest answers please!

And then I felt like playing with some of the tie-dyed fabric so I made this:

I might put these in the shop tomorrow, if you think they are ok, well the tie-dye is...but if you all think the appliqué is a wonkety heffalump then I'm NOT putting it in the shop!

Its Daft I am- not Stupid!!!!!

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But mostly I've been gardening, and teasing the dogs...when Furball-dog 'talks' he sounds just like Chewbacca!

So now he's Chewbacca-dog!

Yesterday I tried to brush them but they thought it was a game and whenever I called Chewbacca he'd pounce on me then run away! I thought that with this warm weather a good brushing would help him feel cooler- Brains versus Brush?

Hoover-dog let me brush him but he has short hair and it isn't such an issue. So I weeded some more of the gravel instead!

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I was reading a post earlier about giving one's blog focus. I need to consider this issue very deeply as neither this post nor this blog has ANY focus at ALL!

Perhaps I should re name it- 'The Wonderful World of Wandering Wits' !!

Whaddya tinks???

PIP Friday!

PIP? Projects In Progress!

I remembered this 'Jungly' quilt top and am going to batt, back, quilt and bind it!

Sleeveless pullover for me; I've been wearing the same one all winter and its getting a bit thin.

More Brooch Pins for the Etsy Shop- I uploaded two collections of them yesterday. Its such fun playing with-oops! CHOOSING buttons for the middles!

Also, FYI (!!) I got these buttons and the metal brooch clasps from NiceDaySupplies on Etsy, and the speed with which Ruth packed and posted my order was amazing to behold!

The Hub forgot his workplace Swipe card this morning so there was a mournful phone call at 8am asking me to deliver it after taking BBug to school. It was a glorious morning so, stuck in traffic on the Bridge I was looking to see what small boats were in the estuary and noticed there was a ship in the Port. After giving the Hub his card I went down to have a look:

I think they were loading metal re-cycling:

There are a few pussy willows out down at the sea, warmest place in the county I should think!

Since returning home I've been retaking Etsy photos and dealing with the workmen who are connecting us to the water supply...I'm not complaining- three and a half years of temporary piping off S's cattle trough?

When they were done I turned on the tap and was knocked across the kitchen by the water pressure! Whoossssshhh splaaat!

The workmen went off laughing...

Thankful Thursday!

Is it Thursday yet? Ah yes! Please click over to Sonja to join or read...

'To God be the glory! Great things he has done!

So loved he the world that he gave us his Son;

who yielded his life an atonement for sin,

and opened the life gate that all may go in.'1. Thankful for all the hymn writers over many hundred years who have given us extra words with which to celebrate, rejoice, give thanks, plead, worship, mourn, inspire...So many people who never open the Bible remember the words of hymns, and if that's what it takes to bring them home, that's good too. This is my (covered) somewhat battered Hymnal, precious to me.

2. Thankful Sos came home unexpectedly last night so we could sit down as a whole family to a VERY ROWDY supper, no one wanted to leave the table we were having such a good time. The chat was fairly flying, as were the insults! Today Dilly leaves for Dublin, work tomorrow night and College Monday so we likely won't see her again until the end of April.3. Thankful that I can recycle old clothes and cloth to keep crafting and stay occupied. Even in the lean times there is always something to do.

4. Thankful, VERY Thankful for all you guys who are kind enough to write comments and ideas for me. Since Christmas I am battling once more with the depression, panic about going out of the house, and terribly jangled nerves, and to sit down at my computer and 'talk' to people is more of a blessing than you kindly people will ever know. I am just so thankful to yous.5. Thankful to my 'Heath Robinson' Hub who has kept us in water and firewood through the last three weeks of frozen pipes and below freezing temperatures. Very ingenious for a little African boy brought up in the Bush!

P.S. See the world map on the sidebar?

And all those dots around South America?

I do declare that my Travelling Sister is checking up on me!

No water, horse visitor, and children.

It’s been a quiet day, literally and figuratively.

Dilly rang this morning for a chat which was unusual, but it was slow at work. I put the mobile on speaker-phone so Sos and I could both talk to her, and from time to time her work phone rang and she had to deal with customers. Sos and I were in kinks listening to Dilly being polite and efficient! Then the dogs heard her voice and came galloping in looking for her, so she had to talk to them. They are always baffled when they hear her and she’s not here. B is going to Dublin next week to stay with Dilly so we sorted details.

Sos and B went into town again this afternoon, Sos to have a hair-cut and B to meet a friend for coffee and chat. Sos’ new cut looks very smart and apparently the salon owner asked the trainee and Sos if they’d like to try out dying it next week, so they are both happy about that. Sos also bought tickets for her and B to hear Eoghan Quigg sing tomorrow night (he was an X-Factor finalist).
Talking of Concerts, Dilly was given a ticket to Bruce Springsteen at the RDS last weekend and said he was fabulous. He played for three hours twenty minutes straight and the atmosphere was amazing. When everyone got out (round midnight) she said a good many of the 20,000 strong crowd walked back towards town taking over the whole road and re-singing all the songs they’d just been hearing! Dilly thought it was a real time to remember.

I weeded the big flower bed for an hour this afternoon as the weather turned beautifully warm and sunny. I think I need to plant more in there as the gaps between plants are too wide and weedy. When things spread I can always dig up and divide them I guess. I’m wondering whether the skimmia is happy though as it looks kind of scorched. There’s full sun all day and perhaps that’s not what it likes, have to look it up.

I’ve been playing with the photo editing on the computer today, without much success, but I learned quite a lot. I took some more photos, was trying to make a collage but haven’t figured exactly how to position them. I will!

We’ve been without water most of the day, looks like the road-works people have broken the pipe again, but it’s at least a month since it happened so it’s bearable. The problem will be if they don’t get it fixed early tomorrow. Since our water supply comes off the cattle trough of the next farmer’s field the line is a bit dodgy at the best of times.

And to top it all, Billy the kicking, biting, bad-tempered pony from down the valley is grazing our garden and clopping round and round our house for fun. Which means Ben and Bertie are racing round inside, leaping up and woofing whenever Billy passes a window. Aagh! Dublin Zoo would be more tranquil…

We stopped off for an ice-cream on the way home from town and tried the ‘Magnum Temptations’- absolutely WICKED!

As a Postscript, we went outside to watch the International Space Station pass overhead last night: I’ve wrtiien about it in my Timeless Treasures blog at http://heartwarmingtreasures.blogspot.com.