And about time too! (A surprise in the post, Canada and other things..)

Hello folks!  Hope all is well with everyone.

Little by little 'things' are getting bearable and sorted here.

I MUST sincerely thank everyone who has either commented or emailed me recently, you have lifted my heart and spirits, your words have been appreciated more than you could ever know.

I've also been amazed/pleased to see some more new followers, thank you for joining in, hope to 'see' you again soon :o)

As you know I've been missing for a while, and most of today I've been having a play about with my layout hoping to trim and improve.  I've finally managed to magic up a blog button, so feel free to use it if you wish - I think it all works correctly!)  Let me know if it all looks okay please.
I've also added a side-bar link to my lovely, talented daughter's new craft blog 

Now, to finally get back to 'normal'.  Just before (the dreaded) Christmas I received a surprise parcel from sweet Mary the U.S.  I was amazed to find inside these dear...

Porcelain hedgehog measuring cups!
(I meant to say that Mary got them from Anthropologie)
Mary had treated herself to a set and decided to share them with me as she knows how much I love the little critters :o)  Thank you so much Mary, sorry it's taken so long to post them.  They are sitting happily on the bookcase in the kitchen, I can see them from here and they make me smile.

As you can imagine, for the sake of my sanity (!) I have been popping into the charity shop as I've been passing and found one or two little bits and bobs that I can now share with you all.
Bronze figures are amongst the MANY things I collect, though you probably didn't know that ;o)
and last week I found this sweet pair of bears.  They stand 1.25" tall, and cost the princely sum of £1.

Now, you KNOW I LOVE blue and white, so it will come as no great surprise to this addition.

An 1960's vintage Enoch Wedgwood Schweppes Willow Pattern advertising 4" dish (75p)

My fascination with glass continues (despite myself!) so when I saw this perfume decanter that stands around 6" tall for £3.50 you just knew I'd find it a home.

(It has a little condensation in the base as it's not properly dry yet.)

When I 'popped' in yesterday I was taken by this unusual owl, it stands 5" tall

I just love the expression in his eyes.  Another one at 75p.

In the 80's Hubs and I visited relatives in Ontario.  We had a wonderful, memorable holiday and travelled throughout Ontario.  I fell in love Canada, and said if I ever went again it would be on a one way ticket!  So, occasionally I see something beautiful that reminds me of our holiday.  In the last few days I've been in seventh heaven with the following three true works of art.

The wood duck and Canada goose were made in places we'd visited on our travels, which makes them special to me :o) and they only cost £3 each.
  But, by a sheer fluke I happened to be in the shop as the manager was putting out the following item, a TRUE antique.

A small, delicate wall hanging, hand painted with an Indian chief on leather.

Hard to photograph, but it says 'Vancouver 1912'

and on the back (it is attached to card)

The message reads

'To Tom

From Loll

Xmas 1913'

And the cost?  £2.50!

It is now wrapped in acid free tissue paper and safely stored in a beautiful box :o)

I admit to being totally flummoxed that people can discard such old family 'treasures'?

Well, that all for now.  I shall hope to be posting as a blogger should, but please forgive me if it's still a little sporadic at times.

Wishing you all well.  Stay warm!

Best wishes

xx

A bit of an explanation.

Hi folks, hope you are all well recovered after all the festivities.  I'd again like to thank you sincerely for the supportive comments and emails I have received, you ARE such lovely, lovely folk - you really have no idea how much I have appreciated them.
I'd also love to welcome my new follower :o)  (Waves hello).

Thank goodness, I'm back to firing on all cylinders (except I appear to have almost completely lost my sense of smell), and hubs is feeling a lot better and is going to attempt going back to work (again) tomorrow - he did return last Wednesday but had to come home again as he was still suffering with breathing problems.

I feel I should now share with you the main problem that is affecting us, though I do not wish to appear hard or even feeling sorry for myself - I'm not one of natures nurses and am finding it incredibly difficult to deal with all of this....
 
My Mother is still suffering from a chest infection with a hacking cough even after two lots of antibiotics and cough medicine.  Sadly, this is not the only problem...she has been showing more and more symptoms of dementia since the start of her illness and her depression (which she is treated for) is certainly getting worse.  We have never had a close relationship and the advancing symptoms are making this relationship even harder - she has a lot of verbal aggression if things are not exactly as she wishes, and can be very demanding - especially of time.  I can be with her for a number of hours and then when I return home she will have rung before I've even got back.  There have been days that I have had in excess of 20 calls from her even though I've been to do jobs/care for her that day, because she needs to talk to someone - I'm afraid in exasperation I've even given her The Samaritans phone number to try and lighten the demands on me.
My brother lives 170 miles away and was very shocked when he came to see her on Friday at the way she treats people that are trying to help.  (He last visited on the 21st December - her birthday).  When he comes she is normally all sweetness and light with him and his wife, but this time he saw her 'normal' behaviour.
She moved to sheltered housing in the village five years ago to be nearer to me in her advancing years and lives less than a mile away.  Once she moved here she insisted that we sorted out an 'enduring power of attorney', which looks like it will have been a blessing as things will, no doubt only get worse.

I am doing my best and I'm trying to get some further support arranged for her, which should be easier once she has been back to the Doctor for a full medical assessment (which I requested on our last visit on New Years Eve).  One of the problems are that now she says she's not going back to see the Doctor, so it looks like I have some cajoling to do - I will however see the Doctor on my own beforehand to try and explain the situation as I can foresee all sorts of difficulties when she does finally agree to go back.

Well, that's it in a nutshell.  Now you know why I've been lying low, and will not be about very often for the foreseeable future.

I sign off wishing you all well.

To wish you all...

Hello folks,

I've just popped along to wish you ALL a very happy and healthy 2013.

(image from http://bing-gallery.com)

I'd  also like to sincerely  thank you for your continued support, friendship and wonderful comments and emails especially from my last post.  You have made me smile and have buoyed me up over a difficult time.  I'm afraid that I just haven't had time to catch up with you all and I know I have missed out on a lot of fun....

Though hubs and I are (mostly) recovered well my Mother continues to have some problems that I feel I cannot share at this time, and consequentially I shall be away for at least another couple of weeks whilst I try to sort things out.  

I hope you have a wonderful time at all those parties!

With my very best wishes,

Christmas IS cancelled.

Hi all

I've just grabbed a few moments to wish you all a Happy Christmas and hope you have a peaceful and healthy holiday.


Please forgive this post, but I have had to let you know what's happening here as I'm AWOL (again).

All is not well here, Hubs and I are still far from well, this chest infection has really knocked us off our feet.  No decorations, no tree - no-one feels up to bothering.  Mom now has it too (despite I have kept well away from her).  Today I have had to get her to hospital to get sorted by 'out of hours doctors' as she was having difficulty breathing.  Then tonight, just when I though she was settled she rang and told me she'd fell and couldn't get up.  Dear daughter ( thank goodness, she is now home for the holidays), so we both went down and have sorted Mom out and put her to bed.  No damage done, other than she was confused and shook up. 

I had a lovely package from the US last week that bought me to tears, but I'll have to leave that post for another day.

Best wishes to all

Deeply shocked

This morning I am deeply shocked and stunned at the heart-breaking news from America,  innocent children and teachers gunned down...
My thoughts are with the families and friends of those injured and lost.

Wow!

Hello Guys and gals!

I had a package arrive yesterday from the very dear Leanne  at Tales of Simple Days, and when I opened it I was delighted to find this beauty.

With his gorgeous frosted wings :o)

and there was also this 'magical' card

Thank you, thank you Leanne!  I shall treasure him and think of you each time I see him..

There are REALLY lovely people in Blogland :o)

Very best wishes

P.S.

I have been nursing my OH who is quite poorly at the moment, he is asthmatic and has a really bad chest infection....and then this morning I awoke with a retching cough, temperature and feeling dreadful :o(  Oh well, we do share most things!  It's just putting me FURTHER behind with other plans..my Mom is 90 on the 21st - no cake or card made yet.  Christmas decorations are still in the loft, and it looks like they'll be stopping there for another few days too.  No cards written, no gifts wrapped.  Looks like Xmas will be deferred this year!

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.