My days work

This is my days work, four shopping bags made from curtains, and each one has my name in the top left hand corner. It's a heavy fabric so should last ages, and they will go in the washer when they get dirty.

Hopefully, if people use them correctly and remember to take them with them, there will be a few less plastic bags used.

Something for the weekend

I have a little friend for the weekend, Teddy lives round the corner, there is no one in the house they have all gone away. Isn't he a cutie. He makes me laugh when we are out walking, dashing here and there, stopping to look at everyone, with his little tail wagging frantically. He's a very happy dog.

Not so much fun in the house though, he wants to play with the cats but they don't want to play with him. He follows them about, and whimpers if they ignore him, which they do most of the time. Last night I took him home at 11pm because I knew I would not get any sleep if he was left to wander around the house. I don't get my full quota of sleep anyway, Lilly cat sees to that when he climbs all over me, and pats my face with his paw. He will not settle untill I lift the covers and stretch my arm out so he can curl up under my armpit.

I have just taken Teddy out for his second walk and dropped him off at his house for a couple of hours, to give me and the cats a bit of peace. There is a little bit of jealousy going on here. Lilly is worried that he might get left out, because of the new cats, and the dogs that visit, he continually shadows me. Bugsy is a lot less clingy, he takes all the comings and goings in his stride, preferring to lounge in the back window sill looking out over the garden. I have told him he must chase off the black and white cat who comes to steal the food, but he will not lift a paw to help.

In between all this opening and closing doors to let cats in and out, and to keep Teddy in, I am doing a bit of sewing. More shopping bags are on the production line, I'm making them out of curtains I got from the Scrapstore before it closed, and very nice they are too. I'll post a pic when they are ready.

Couldn't be bothered

I have an apology to make to Lancashire Lass, I can't do a revue of Dirty Harry because I did not go to see it. Yes, I was going to go, then I thought about it right up untill it was time to leave. Can I be bothered to get changed, do I want to drive 13 miles there and 13 miles back, is it important that I see it, and do I want to pay £3 for something that does not really matter. I watched the clock and as it reached 6.50pm, I thought, I should be going now, if I am going. I just went off the idea, and watched The Apprentice on the iplayer instead.

Running away or facing up to your responsibilities!

I am feeling very unsettled at the moment, my emotions are up and down, I feel anxious, and I feel I am losing control. Why? These two little critters
.

I have spoke before about taking control of my life, making choices that have been important to me, and accepting full responsibility for my actions. But then something happens which screws everything up.

I have plans to go out, see places, be free to go where I want, whenever I want. I want to take off at a minutes notice, on a whim, suddenly pack a bag and go. Because that's how I have been living my life for the past 30 odd years. Yes, I have gone to work and had a job to do, but once out on the road I am in my own little world. The great outdoors is a huge attraction for me, and only those who have lived like this, understand. I am not a home bird, never have been.

When I had my Bugsy 14 years ago, I was at a low ebb, a relationship had broken down and he came along and cheered me up. We rub along nicely together. Lilly joined us about three years ago, an elderly cat looking for a comfortable loving home, so all is fine, two oldies that are happy mooching around. I can have a long day out and they will look after themselves, or friends will come in and feed them if I go away.

This year has been a good year, I've been to lots of places, seen lots of interesting things, and sensed once again the freedom of the road. The feeling of movement, of going somewhere, of anticipation, of unpredictability, of planning an adventure, that is what I am all about.

But what do I do about the little pussies? At the moment they are sleeping in their little room. They seem happy, but they are becoming curious as to what lies beyond. Who are these other cats that come and look at them through the wire mesh barrier, where are they going, what is through the door, and why cant they go into the garden.

I am asking everyone I know, if they might know of some kind person to take them in. I thought they might have a better chance if they were in Sue's rescue pen, and also they would have a lot better view in her garden than in the little room here. Maybe it was a bit presumptious of me to expect her to take them in. It was me who decided they couldn't stay in a car, I chose to have them here.

They have been here for eleven days, perhaps I am panicking a bit too soon, but all I see is my freedom ebbing away. These little pussies have found a way into my heart, and I am torn. I have never been able to cope with emotional stuff, yet I sit here in tears. One half of me wants to run away, lock the house up and never come back, but the other half says face up to your responsibilities and take them in. Now you can see why I have never had children, I just couldn't cope.

A warm welcome at Breighton Cats Lodge

I had a skive off yesterday, went to visit my friends Janet and Alan at their cattery near Selby. I hadn't been since May, so it was lovely to have a catch up. They are not able to go out anywhere due to their dedication for their animals, as well as their own cats their pens are nearly always full of boarders. So friends and family visit them.

And boy did they make me feel welcome. There was a delicious spread, of which I stuffed myself, well you have to eat everything put in front of you, don't you? It is polite to clear your plate. My word, I suffered later though. I was late leaving and called in Tesco on the way past for a few bits, so I didn't arrive home till after 11pm. My stomach was hurting that much I had to stop up till 1am walking about to shake some of it down. I definately don't need any breakfast this morning, what a pig I am.

Janet buys her cat food in bulk, and she lets me have a big bag of Vitapurr dry food at the price she pays for it, which is a bargain, and luckily my cats love it.

The plan for today? Go and fetch Ben dog now, walk him then bring him back here, as he is on his own for a long time. His owner is not coming back till 7pm. Then I am taking Sue to do a home inspection as she is rehoming another one of her kittens. And tonight I am going to the Ropewalk Arts Centre to watch a film. It's called Dirty Harry, Michael Caine stars, only £3, and a nice cosy little makeshift cinema. Toodle Pip.

Every last one

Boohoo :o( This is the last of my spuds and carrots which I dug up yesterday.

I was determined to get every last one, even though the smallest carrots are less than an inch long. Every one counts towards a meal, they will make a lovely stew with some onions and pulses. Now I've got to start buying them. Still got some beetroot left though :o)

Easy way to make crisps

I thought I would give this a try, making crisps in a microwave, thanks to Grannyof4 at downthelane.net forum. Take one large peeled potato, you don't have to peel it if you dont want to, and one slicing gadget thingy.

Granny says put the slices in a bag with a drop of oil, and shake to coat them. I didn't, I put about a teaspoon of oil on the microwave glass plate and spread it around with my fingers. Then arranged the slices, they must be thin.

Microwave for about 3 minutes, but it's best to keep your eye on them. It will steam up a bit so open the door and wipe the condensation from the inside, so you can see when they are ready. Keep checking them, don't walk away, and this is what you get, delicious crisps. The plate by the way is a breakfast plate not a dinner plate, but still quite a lot for one potato.

You can use flavoured oil if you like, I sprinkled garlic granules on some once, before they went in the microwave, they were yummy. I prefer them without salt. Very tasty, real crisps without all the nasties.

Mrs Shifter - no job too small

I spent most of the morning shifting a load of branches from Sue's garden, down to the local dump yard. She had a tree chopped down a few weeks ago and it needed to be moved. She had made a good job of breaking it all down and bagging up the small stuff, it must have been back breaking work, but us independant ladies don't shy away from a bit of hard graft. It took me two trips and the car was loaded up to the roof. My Focus estate comes in very handy for jobs like this, with the back seats folded down I can use it like a van.

Doggy walk this afternoon, meet Graham our gardener. He has recently turned 70 and he still spends hours keeping the church yard immaculate. We have a laugh and a joke, and a catch up with the village gossip whenever we meet. Poor Graham had a fall last week at his home, tripped on a step on his patio and smashed his teeth and cut his bottom lip, he had to have a lot of stitches. It looked very sore at the time and he could hardly speak, but it looks like it is healing up nicely. He'll be feeling a lot better once he gets his new teeth.

Remember the grave of the baby I talked about before? I saw his mother a couple of weeks ago for the first time, she told me she had had another baby. Today I see that extra flowers have been laid on the grave, it would have been Declan's third birthday on Friday. There are cards and little notes, a few more toys, and a lovely flower train with his name on. It still makes me cry when I see it.

I thought this single yellow flower looked pretty, underneath a tree.

When I went onto the hills, these leaves looked so pretty in the sunshine.

I thought I had found a home for Tiger and Lilly today. I asked my friends friend, who was visiting her. The lady had been thinking about getting another cat, after one of hers had died, but she only wanted one. Never mind, but she might still be lucky because Sue has a six month old kitten who is ready to go next week. In the meantime I'll keep looking, there must be somebody.

Must be carefull with my spending

I'm going to be skint for the next couple of months, there is a lot to pay out. The car has just cost me £100 for the repair, the instrument cluster behind the dashboard had to be replaced, but guess what, the mileometer has gone back to zero, so I guess I have a new car now, ha ha, I wish.

Next month is the MOT and I know there will be more repairs, the front roll bar link rods need replacing, it has started to clunk a bit when going over bumpy roads. I have had this car almost four years, so maybe it's time to think about updating, possibly around the middle of next year.

Then it's the insurance in December, I am thinking about changing it to Third Party Fire and Theft, I'll ask my broker when I get the quote through. Yes I do use a broker, always have done, the same one since I started driving, and they always find me the best deal.

I think we have gas and electricity to pay for in November, not too worried about that but all the bits soon mount up.

Then I have my London trip to pay for. I have just booked an extra night at the hostel which has brought the total to £101.50 for six nights. I booked the extra night to tie in with the train times, to get the cheaper tickets you have to go in the middle or towards end of the day, and I didn't want the journey to eat into the time I have to enjoy myself in London. Also by arriving on the Saturday evening means I can look around the Sunday markets.

I could use National Express Coaches and only pay £1 each way. I seriously thought about it, as that would have been a good saving, but as an ex coach driver I could not face that five and a half hour journey on the motorway. I have seen enough motorways to last me a life time, and sitting trapped in a seat for that length of time, how awful.

You will be pleased to know however, that I went on the bus to town to get my train tickets, and walked back, so a bit of car use saved there. So, no little treats for me for the rest of this month, and untill the middle of November. I have got no spare money. It's a good job I bought a bag of treacle toffee yesterday then, well it was on offer from Thorntons, reduced to 49p as it's on the last date. A bargain I thought. I love treacle toffee.

It's the birds

There is a very strange exhibition on at the moment at the 20 21 Arts Centre in town. The artist, Paula Chambers has used stuffed birds for her works, which she bought off ebay. Each one is dressed up and positioned inside an individual glass case, in it's own contemporary diorama. The scenes are rather sinister. Every bird is splattered with droplets of blood, apparently after the murder of a human, who is then consumed by the bird. This one is cooking it's victim in a pot over a fire

This bird has it's victims shoe in it's mouth, who was possibly a little girl having a picnic.

The canary has stabbed the baby in the high chair.

And this jackdaw is playing nanny to the baby in the pram, who has mysteriously gone missing.

I can't work out why the duck has blood on it's face,

This bird has dumped a childs blood stained glove in the waste bin.

I might have to go and have another look at it to understand it, the brochure describes it as unsettling.

I walked home from town, and took this photo of a tree which has grown through a wire mesh fence. There used to be a lot of overgrown hedges alongside this fence, which is at the front of a car sales pitch, and when they hacked them all down it revealed several of these lumps of wood. They hang suspended with the wire fence completely engulfed. Quite interesting I thought, and very arty.

Coming to the end of the veg

I thought I would do a little garden update here, as it's coming towards the end of the growing season. Although I haven't put much effort into it this year, I have still managed to put quite a lot of home grown veg on my plate, even though there has not been a lot of variety.

I was out earlier searching for a few spuds for my dinner, and found a few. I think there might be some more, so I will dig the beds over again in case I have missed some. I pulled some carrots which were quite small, there is enough for two meals and I might get enough for another meal if I carefully sort through the remainder. The courgettes have finished now, I got quite a lot from just one plant.

All the beans have gone now, even with only ten plants I have had masses of them, and put some in the freezer. I have loads of yellow tomatoes, far too many in fact. I have been giving them away to my neighbours and friends, to be honest I am sick of them. I don't like chutney so that's out, I will freeze some of them to put in my winter stews.

Beetroot has been a success this year and I still have more to pull up and cook, but the raddishes were hopeless so I won't be bothering with them again. Now it's time to start clearing the beds, and covering them for the winter so the cats can't get on them.

Even though I didn't spend much time in the veg garden, and there hasn't been a big choice, it has still saved me a lot of money, because I have been delaying going shopping and making do with what I have got. Keeping it simple has definately worked for me, more time to go out and enjoy myself.

A bit more confident

They are coming out to play a bit now.

Pussycat update

Look at these two little faces peering down at me from the top of the cupboard, isn't it funny how cats like hidey holes in high up places. Tabby Lilly and Ginger Tiger. They come down and play now, and are very friendly and affectionate.

There is a sideboard under the window which they hid under when they first came, but now they climb on top and look out of the window. I have made a ramp up to the shelves on the left so they can go up there. The beds are two boxes on top of a bit of carpet I had.

Over the door frame I have fixed up four wire panels which hang on hooks, and can be easily removed for access. This means they can have the door open and wont feel like they are in prison, and I can pop through often as it's right outside the back door.

This is the view from outside, I have some paste tables standing on their ends against the cupboards, which make a convenient ladder to get up onto the top. The sun streams through the window in the morning.

The three of us, me, Sue, and Janet, three cat loving friends, are taking steps to find new homes for these two, plus three kittens and a cat that Sue has in her chalets. Janet is putting a notice in the shop window asking for loving people to come forward. We wont split Tiger and Lilly up, they have to stay together. I'll let you know what happens.

Shades of autumn

This is a little piece of tree art that I made, while walking through the wood nearby. There are a lot of different coloured leaves around now, so I picked a few up and attached them to this tree using thorns.

I have layered the leaves using different sizes and contrasting colours of the same type of leaf. Some of them were still green and growing, and some had turned shades of browns and reds, and had fallen to the ground.

Some of these I pinned up a week ago and they are still there having survived the rain and wind. Today I replaced the dried up and shrivelled leaves with fresh new coloured ones.

Ben dog got a bit fed up waiting for me while I went backwards and forwards looking for the right leaves.

Pussycats looking for a new home

There was a bit of a crisis yesterday, my friend rang me to tell me of two cats who were homeless and living in a car. They are the victims of a domestic breakdown, people moved out, the house was emptied and locked up, and no one bothered to take the cats. The kindly next door neighbour put them in her car and fed them.

I gave my friend some phone numbers of rescues to try, but no one has any room. So they are here in my brick outhouse which is in the passageway just outside the back door. I have cleared most of the stuff out and made them a cosy little den. They can sit on the window ledge and look out over the garden.

One is a ginger boy called Tiger, and the other a tabby girl called Lilly, they are brother and sister and about 18 months old. Today they have been hiding a lot, but tonight Tiger came out and let me stroke him. Hopefully they will be moving into a chalet in Sue's garden at the weekend, when one becomes vacant. It would be lovely if we could find them a nice home, and preferably together. I'd better start asking around tomorrow.