The British obsession

We Brits are of course infamous for one thing, our obsession with the weather! That said I intend to uphold the tradition again here and now.

The last few days in this corner of Scotland we have been subjected to everything from bright clear sunshine accompanied by beautiful blue skies, to howling winds and hail. Temperatures have fluctuated from around 14 degrees in the day to only 2 degrees at night. Most days the cloud has cleared by late afternoon and the resultant nighttime clear skies whilst causing the chill allow for evening sunsets and cloud formations that are a sight to behold.

My little camera and I can't really do the sight suitable justice, there are times when I could be...um.... tempted, very expensively to get 'into' photography again but until such time as I win the lottery these will have to suffice!

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All aglow.


Orange ripple.


Heavenly rays

Beautiful

Courtesy of Ditto, who while trundling around her friend and neighbours garden, snapped it off unceremoniously! One beautiful tulip, donated by it's original owner, as a gift from said small cat for my enjoyment.

I thought it might brighten your day too.

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Single and stunning.


Look into my eye.

Oh...the disappointment

As ever, a quick meander through my referrer lists this morning provided amusement. There is always one isn't there, the individual who ended up at your little patch of the blogosphere as a result of a nefarious search. You gotta laugh.

today's amusement was provided by some poor soul Googling 'knicker blogs'. I can only imagine the utter disappointment(heh) on the face of some hormonally charged teenager or socially challenged fetishist as they opened the page, only to find nothing more erotic than a cats nose and Ditto!(NO! Please don't even go there).

I googled the phrase myself only to find that in a list of 'knicker blogs' I am number seven, all rather worrying when you consider that the reason for my inclusion in this questionable search result was a post months ago regarding we women's fight for comfort over our mans preferences!

Sorry sunshine but whoever you were, there are no steamy pics to be had here, no raunchy narrative, nothing you can purchase in a plain brown envelope....just me and my cats!

....and doubtless now that I have included the word 'fetishist' this won't be the last incident of amusement.

Sorry guys......

....but it's too true amusing to resist!

Nominated as the best short joke this year:

A three-year-old boy was examining his testicles while taking a bath.
"Mum," he asked, "are these my brains?"
"Not yet," she replied.

Fiddle faddle and Firefox....again

Not to be beaten I have put my little 'cat noses' back in this template and hopefully I no longer have the text jumbled up and overlaying them now! As ever it was Firefox causing me difficulty, or at least that's all I thought it was, until a Mac user pointed out the same problem.

Well, with a little luck and a lot of fiddle faddle it is sorted, at least I know it is for Firefox but as I don't have a Mac and the associated software I can't judge how this looks for those users. So please, someone, anyone, using a Mac to view this, or indeed any other browser, or o/s..... it would be much appreciated if you would let me know if the main text is now un-jumbled from the 'noses'!

What a Sunday!

I would be most appreciative if those involved in making my Sunday the nightmare it was would note that I could bloody well do without another like it for a while!

Saturday was average but tiring, PG and I went to bed at a reasonable hour for once in an effort to be able to function on Sunday but regardless I woke up feeling like crap, bad head, bad tummy, bad everything. None the less I pottered off to work at the appointed hour, feeling very shivery and set about the days tasks.

From that point on my day degenerated badly. By 11.00 my patience with rude and arrogant customers was wearing thin, my boss it seems, had also fallen out of bed the wrong side and made our lives more difficult, pick, pick, pick, moan, moan, moan. A colleague had managed to beat me about the head almost poking my eye out in the process and further aggravating my sore head and I had the joy of a staff member who repeatedly would not do or be as I asked, despite my having 'words' on two occasions. Gah, the rest of us have rules and procedures to abide by, apparently this individual feels exempt and has the hide of a rhinoceros! FFS!

I plodded on close to boiling point for most of the day, biting my lip and counting to 100 as opposed to the normal 10, looking forward with glee to escaping home and doing something fun.

It was not to be, by the time I got home I was passed 'fun'. PG made dinner and we settled down to watch TV together. Within 10 minutes we were both asleep! We woke a while later, stiff and cold and crawled into bed for the night at 9.55....good God, I don't 'do' going to bed early but the next thing I knew it was 6.30 this morning and PG was leaving for work!

Hell-fire and damnation, I even missed coronation street! Pfffft.

Six weeks on

Jaydon at just six weeks old and with a head of hair any child of six months would be proud of!


Jaydon.

Me hyper?

Naw. I'm just practicing my karate!

Not just any golf ball!

Strata.

I am, as you may or may not already know a 'golf widow'. This is not generally an issue, PG loves to play golf and for me it means frequent peace and quiet with no competition for the computer! Most day's come hell of high water, if his golf club is open, and rarely is the weather severe enough to close it, he can be found stick in hand, chasing a small white ball around.

The specifics and appeal of his chosen sport are lost on me, I could regale you with the usual phrases regarding spoilt walks etc. but I will resist. As I understand it he plays reasonably well, he plays off a handicap something in the region of 7 or 8 and is all very serious about the whole thing.

I have made one or two attempts at joining in but my apparent difficulty in making contact with that damn small ball only frustrated me and consequently I wandered around the course causing aggravation by giggling at the seriousness of it all, bird watching and talking to some rather pretty cows on the opposite side of the fence!

This golf club has many and various, mostly pedantic rules, one of which is no mobile phones, yet another thing PG takes very seriously. Imagine then my surprise when yesterday evening I received a text message from him, knowing full well he was playing in a competition! Good lord I thought, a small panic rising in my chest, this must be something serious......and it was, very serious stuff indeed!

PG, for the first time in his eight year golfing 'career', had 'scored a hole in one'!!!!....even club rules couldn't prevent him from sharing his excitement from the green and using his phone. Yayyyy for PG.

Please don't ask me the length of the shot or par for the hole....I have a tendency to become a little 'deaf' at that point in golfing conversations.

What followed it seems, was much of the hand shaking and back slapping that goes on in these strange male bonding sessions, though unfortunately as all those present were driving home later in the evening, the 19th hole saw less downing of celebratory Scotch than they would have liked.......doubtless that will be rectified before too long! :o)

And so....this little golf ball pictured above is not just any golf ball, it is the golf ball and we have to have it displayed along with his various other trophies now!

Why are those trophies always so hideous I wonder?

I'm not fat.....

...I'm just fluffy!

Hmmmm.

Friday's feast (46)

Appetizer
Name a store or restaurant you no longer visit because of a bad experience you had there.
'Dixons'....it is never anything but a bad experience!

Soup
If you could own any building in existence, which one would you want?
Swiss Re Tower (The Gherkin)....I love it but I have no idea what I would do with it!


'Gherkin'

Salad
What's your favorite commercial these days?
I don't watch them often enough to know any...sorry.

Main Course
When was the last time you felt guilty about spending money, and what was it you purchased?
I always feel guilty about spending money...I don't have any!

Dessert
Friday's Feast is going to be having it's First Birthday in 2 weeks. What should we do to celebrate?
Er....can I get back to you on that....I'm not sure how one 'does' champagne cocktails 'virtually'

A rare moment

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Low tide at dusk ~ 05.05.05

As predicted, and it didn't take a genius, this mornings news bought with it a degree of disappointment....hey ho, life goes on and if nothing else the general election provided the opportunity for a small treat and a lovely evening yesterday.

The necessity to place a cross in a box in the afternoon forced me from my usual position infront of this machine, something that as a rule is not easy! PG had the afternoon off and we had one or two other chores to attend to in town so off we headed in bright sunshine first to the polling station. Nothing new there, a dingy local hall with even more dingy individuals in attendance, crosses were duly placed in boxes, amidst my giggling at something PG said, aforementioned dingy individuals looked somewhat less than amused at our adolescent behaviour and duty done we left post haste.

On then into town, which was busier than we are used to of late, holiday makers and tourists beginning to fill the streets as they do each spring.

Chores attended too, we went to fix a friends pc and then it was time for our treat. Fish and chips on the beach in early dusk! I just love it, it's the small things in life that make it worthwhile and having spent the majority of my life land-locked, I still adore that we can sit by the ocean at whim. We don't do it often enough, we really should make the effort but when we do eject ourselves beach-ward it still remains a joy. We sat like fools eating out of carboard boxes while attemping to look through binoculars at what PG assured me was a seal, though I strongly disputed he saw anything other than a rock, well I couldn't see it! We giggled and joked and fed seagulls with chips, a cardinal sin for they are not to be encouraged, we kissed like teenagers and watched dogs playing in the light surf.

As the sun began to set we drove home along lanes as yet untravelled by myself, little places I have always meant to go but in the day to day of life have never yet managed. There were lambs (no mention of mint sauce please, PG has already been there), trees, heavy with pink and white blossoms, all manner of birds beginning their nightly tasks and in the falling sunlight everything was greener than green, with wonderful shadows cast everywhere.

It was one of those evenings when all felt well in our little world , one of those moments of complete peace, that if planned can never be attained.

I've been tagged!

Eekkk, I've been tagged, in a virtual sense of course, by the inimitable Sque! I'm having a very intellectually challenged day so there is a distinct possibility that I have misunderstood what I am supposed to be doing but here goes anyways.....

Here are the Instructions:

What follows is a list of different occupations. You must select at least five of them. You may add more if you like to your list before you pass it on (after you select five of the items as it was passed to you). Of the five you selected, you are to finish each phrase with what you would do as a member of that profession. Then pass it on to three other bloggers.

If I could be a scientist...

If I could be a farmer...

If I could be a musician...

If I could be a doctor...

If I could be a painter...

If I could be a gardener...

If I could be a missionary...

If I could be a chef...

If I could be an architect...

If I could be a linguist...

If I could be a psychologist... I'd educate others to dispel the fears and taboos surrounding mental illness.
If I could be a librarian...

If I could be an athlete...

If I could be a lawyer... I'd represent for free those who have genuine need and no access to the legal system.

If I could be an innkeeper...

If I could be a professor...

If I could be a writer...

If I could be a backup dancer...

If I could be a llama-rider...

If I could be a bonnie pirate...

If I could be a midget stripper...

If I could be a proctologist... I would shove something rather large up the ass of Sque's ex!

If I could be a TV-Chat Show host...

If I could be an actor...

If I could be a judge...

If I could be a Jedi...

If I could be a mob boss...

If I could be a backup singer...

If I could be a CEO... I would employ all those individuals who industry won't usually give a chance.

If I could be a movie reviewer...

If I could be a mob boss...

If I could be a monkeys uncle...

If I could be a CSI...

If I could be a computer nerd... I'd be forever happy!

If I could be a Kindergarten teacher...

Ok.....so now it's my turn , Lisa, Sue and Mick consider yourselves tagged guys!

Curiosity got the cat

It would seem that cats have a memory span of a period approximating something in the vicinity of seven days!

Yesterday morning, after a week of complete refusal to venture 'out to play', hiding under the bed and jumping out of her little jacket at every noise and movement, curiosity finally got the better of Ditto. She woke up early, marched to the door and howled to be set free.


Out!

On opening the door to facilitate this I fully expected her to do another about turn and rush back to the safety of 'under the bed'......however to my amazement she rushed out, ploughed down the stairs and into the fields like nothing had ever happened!


Hiding.

Not a sign was there of the previous day's traumas, it was as though she had suddenly and completely forgotten what had gone before. There was a moment or two of red alert, of ears hard forward and nose sniffing frantically, the reason for which to a human was not discernible, but that aside nothing....completely back to normal overnight. Scaredy cat on Monday, brave hunter on Tuesday.



Red alert.

She was out in the sun for most of the day and evening, I kept a close eye on her but nothing seemed amiss, she went visiting her neighbour friend, who has edible treats always ready at the ready, she investigated her patch at length and lay in the grass dozing, with apparently not a care in the world and no memory of whatever it was that had scared her.

My only hope now is that having got 'brave cat' back, she doesn't have another encounter with whatever turned her into a nervous and housebound wreck for a week.