Good news and goodies.

Hello folks, and a big welcome to my new followers - good to see you here!
Thank you for your moving comments about Dad's medal, you made my day.

Yesterday (Tuesday), I collected Octavia back from the hog rescue as she is now up to weight :o)

When I 'hog-napped' her she was around 232 grams, well underweight for winter,

 but she is now 641 grams :o) thanks to Joan's tender care.  

As you can see she's grown somewhat, and I've marked her with a nice stripe so that I can easily ID her.

She was snuggled into a hog box, freshly filled with lovely sweet hay around 10 pm last night. 

(I covered her over after taking this image)

I leave fresh food out every night anyway, so there was plenty to tuck into.  When I checked around an hour later she'd disappeared, and only a little mealworm had been eaten.  I kept a watchful eye until I went to bed at around 2 am, but she never re-appeared, and this morning the sleeping box was still empty :o(

I'm sure she'll be about for a few nights before settling on a nice warm place to snooze...I really wish she'd choose one of my hog boxes though.

Over the last few weeks I have of course 'popped in' to my local 'suppliers' and found a few things that called out to me ;o)

This pretty Caithness paperweight 3" high £3.50.
I have visited the factory where they are made on few occasions when we have been in Scotland.  Paperweights have fascinated me since I was a young girl, my Aunt had a collection and I spent many hours looking at them.  I started my own collection as an  adult, then I inherited hers, and now have a collection of  75 paperweights!

I also spotted someone else's collection, especially this item.

A delightful Swarofski large hedgehog, which as you can imagine had my name on ;o)
I purchased this for £3.75 but left the other items in the shop.  When I came home and washed it I realised just how gorgeous the refraction was I HAD to have the other items too.  I rang the shop and asked them to keep them until the next day, here they are:-
(Sorry, they are difficult to photograph)

A blue-eyed tortoise

this dear squirrel with an acorn

a 3" cat, which is MUCH nicer than shown.

and the owl and the pussycat in their crystal boat.
Most of them were £3.50, but this one was £2.50 :o)
I was pleasantly surprised when I checked the prices on Ebay...
A few days later I found this crystal handled letter opener.

in it's original box for £7.00.  It is 11" long, and the handle is beautifully cut.

I was amazed to find this Spode Christmas Tree dish for £4

Last week I saw a side plate in another shop for £10.  I think I had a bargain :o)

I read somewhere that if you have three of something it's a collection..
This is the third Babbacombe Pottery cat masked string holder I have found over the years (all in different colour ways)

The back is hollow which holds the ball of string this is then fed through a hole in the mouth, and the scissors fit into the bow.  I also have an owl one.  Having just checked there web site I see there's a hedgehog one - I may be leaving BIG hints around the house about that!

And finally,

This wonderful deer candelabra which stands around 12" high and cost the princely sum of £2.75
Guess who's Christmas table this will grace?

I'm sorry that I'm behind with making visits, and leaving only few comments.  Things have been hectic here lately and I cannot see things getting any better for a while, so my postings will no doubt continue to be sporadic.  Please bear with me, I really do appreciate your visits, comments and friendship.  I endeavour to catch-up with you as time allows.

Sending you all my very best wishes.