Ms Fox!

I had one of those once in a lifetime experiences the other evening. As some of you probably know we have a horse which we keep on a farm. Over the last year we have seen a number of foxes round and about, but as to be expected as soon as they see you they are off like a shot. The farmer is happy for them to be there as he and his neighbours don't have any livestock and the foxes keep the rabbits down. Anyway one of the foxes had babies a few months ago and the three of them have also been seen around the farm. Although two of them act just like the adults, one of them has become increasingly curious about humans and people have started throwing it odd bits of food. The other night Allan and I were up there and it came trotting down the lane to us. Allan had put a piece of left over fish from the fishshop in the van, just in case we saw it and the pics show what happened next.






I absolutely loved the experience of being so close to a wild fox, although as I said to Allan, I do have some doubts about encouraging it to be so friendly. I would hate it to get hurt or killed because it approached the wrong person.

More pics of Dorset

Here are some more pics of Dorset as requested by Karen from Bubblyfunk

A view from the coast road at sunset

Weymouth harbour

Weymouth harbour

Lulworth cove - such a beautiful tranquil place despite all the tourists. We sat there ages in the sun, just relaxing.

Durdle door - This was beautiful but I needed oxygen by the time I got back up to the car park at the top of the hill

West Bay
The Coast Road
Portland Bill
Portland Bill - We climbed down the rocks near the lighthouse to sit near the sea
Poole - this was the only day it rained

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Dorset Holiday

Its three weeks since I came on here and in that time I've been away on holiday for a week with Allan. We went in a little cottage in Mosterton, which is right on the edge of Dorset near the Somerset border. Its the first time we've been to Dorset and I'm afraid I've found somewhere that is even more glorious than my beautiful Norfolk. For those of you who haven't been to Dorset, it has stunning scenery, miles and miles of beautiful beaches - some lovely white sand, some shingle, really friendly locals who are very happy to tell you all the best places to visit and the most wonderful little villages right next to the blue, clear sea with thatched cottages and lovely pubs and restaurant. We had such a wonderful time and it was lovely to spend a full week together without the usual day to day pressures. We spend so little quality time together as Allan is a workaholic and is out of the house from 7.00 a.m. to at least 8.30 p.m. every day. By the time he gets home all he is fit for is his dinner and a snooze in the chair. I keep telling him that life is too short but that is the way he has always been so I don't suppose he'll change now.

View of Chesil Beach taken from Portland

West Bay

View from the coast road between West Bay and Weymouth

Fishermen on Chesil Beach at West Bradstock

Boscombe Beach, Bournemouth

I took loads of photos, so have decided to do a Dorset scrapbook of some sort to make sure they don't just sit on my computer for the next 20 years.

New printer

I treated myself to a new printer yesterday. The old ones been playing up for ages and as its about four or five years old I thought I deserved a new one. Its a Hewlett Packard all in one, so its got the scanner on it as well, which is really useful as it doesn't take up as much room as my separate scanner and printer did. The girl in the shop wanted me to have an Epson, but my last two printers have been HP and have been great so I didn't want to tempt fate by changing. Needless to say the new equipment has inspired me as new equipment always does and I've been scanning in my mums old photos. My mum passed away in November 2004, she had loads of old photos which I've got out on many occasions to sort but then got distracted, so they've gone back in the drawer in a pile. I came across one of my mum and dads wedding in 1950 and they looked really happy. It reminded me of how close they were and how much sorrow my mum endured when my dad died in 1974 at the age of 56, unbelievably just two years older than I am now.

I've also started doing a 'My book about me' 8 x8 scrapbook. I've done three double page layouts and its funny isn't it, its supposed to be about me, but two out of the first three layouts are about Allan and the family. I suppose I'll get to me later ... the story of my life! I just can't separate myself out, its just impossible, and to be honest thats just the way I like it.

Lazy Sunday

Well its been raining all day, yet again. Its been a quiet day, Jess stayed last night so we got up this morning and just lazed around and of course she had her egg and toast soldiers for breakfast. I've not been making many cards lately, other than ones for me to send to family and friends. However, I had a phone call last night at about 11.30 p.m., you know the "mum are you busy?" sort. Louise, my sons girlfriend, asked if I could make some cards for her grandparents 60th wedding anniversary. Then of course there was the usual last sentence "oh by the way, we need three for Tuesday, one from grandad to wife, one to mum and dad and one to Nana and Grandad". After all its just three cards, isn't it? The only thing I refused was that they wanted one A4 size one. I hate doing the really big cards, I can never get them to look right, there is just too much space. A5 size is my limit so that bit was definitely, either like it or lump it! Anyway, I've done these two so far:


I've done them in quite a traditional way as obviously the recipients are in their 80's, so I wasn't sure if they would appreciate anything a bit funky. I've decoupaged the bouquet of flowers and put clear gems in the centres of some of the flowers as the 60th anniversary is diamond. Oh and yes, to the Bubblyfunk peeloff haters, I have used peeloffs ... he he he!

Birdies and bears.

Our babies have flown! Last year Allan put up a bird box that a friend of his had given him. He was really disappointed as the birds deemed it not to be the des res for 2007. Obviously the location, location, location has got better this year as a pair of great tits set up home in it. We checked the nest box this morning and all the babies have gone, except for one poor little one which had died. I did manage to get a pic of them in the nest between feeds, by standing precariously on top of a milk crate. It's a wonder I didn't break my neck but all Allan cared about was getting a pic and I certainly wasn't going to let him loose with my camera.

I was up at 6.30 this morning so as well as checking the nest, feeding the animals, doing the dishwasher and putting some washing in I decided to start scrapping a photo of Jessie on holiday a few years ago, which I'd been meaning to do for ages. I really shouldn't do that - I ended up 20 minutes late for work and it still wasn't finished so then I came home for lunch - and was late back again. I managed to finish it tonight just before Emmerdale started so I'm happy now.

The flowers at the bottom came from the Bubblyfunk May kit, as did the Bazzill cardstock. The papers are, surprise, surprise, the DCWV Spring Stack - I'm really addicted to these at the mo. I painted the flowers with the Stargazers paints which are gorgeous and then blinged them up a bit with a few 'diamonds'(as our Jess calls them!)

I haven't bought many kits before, but I'm going to start as you get such a nice mixture of things some of which I wouldn't dream of buying normally and in small amounts so you can have a bash with them without breaking the bank.

Why is it happening?

Isn't it funny how things can affect us. I've felt really down all day, partly to do with the horrible weather I think, but also because I have been watching the news over the last week or so, and there is so much sadness in the world. The images of the poor people in Burma and China affected by awful natural disasters and then there have been three young men killed in mindless attacks of violence within just a few days of each other. A young child actually starved to death in the care of her parents. My heart goes out to the families of the young people who were murdered and you question how they bear such emotional pain. I also question how society misses such a thing as a starving child. I work in the children and families department of social services and have often been involved with child protection cases, but the system relies heavily on someone reporting what is going on. I am sure there must be many children who slip through the net because family members and neighbours, who know there is something wrong, don't want to rock the boat by reporting neglect to the authorities.

Anyway, I'll get my miserable head off now and cheer myself up by talking about my gorgeous grandbabies. Jess had her school photo taken last week and the photographer also agreed to take photographs of pupils with younger siblings who were not yet at school so Clare also had one taken of Jessie and Millie together. They came the other day and are absolutely gorgeous. I have them both on display on the sideboard but also conned two more out of Clare so I could scrap them.

The photographer was excellent, not the usual boring old school photos so the results were lovely. The 'Watch the Birdie' LO was done exclusively with papers from the Bubblyfunk May kit. The 'Love is a Sister' LO is done from a sketch on Bubblyfunk by Anna Bowkis. It is completely different to my normal style as its a very simple LO and I have only used a couple of colours but I was really pleased with the result.