Reliability

I have been wasting time looking at some old fashion magazines of my mums. I  love the elegant drawings of women with tiny waists. I'm not going to show you , but  from reading the other pages, I know these are due to 'Good Foundations, as important to successful dressing as they are to safe buildings'. So maybe my foundations are too wobbly for my building to be safe...But there is still time to make sure that zips are reliable... must get one of those frilly aprons though...

Housework

We are expecting visitors. Two of them are aged six and three years old. So I have been cleaning the cooker.I enjoyed it so much I thought I would tackle the fridge next. Then it was time for coffee and a friend dropped in.  We rearranged all the furniture to see if it looked better. I love the shaker blue units.I might  clean the bath next followed by a little light dusting in the sitting room.....

Satisfaction

Today we are going to eat the carrots I have grown in my garden.  In Lincolnshire carrots grow  in vast fields  without any fuss. In my garden they only grow in  special tubs, in special compost  and need to be talked to kindly every day.These are pampered carrots.  But satisfaction levels are very high as I stagger up the garden with home grown veg gathered in the corners of an apron and they taste wonderful too. These are the most expensive carrots ever...

Brownies

Yesterday  was a wild, wet and windy day and  during  the dog walk that neither  of us was enthusiastic about , I was suddenly  struck  with the  horrific thought that I had forgotten how to  make Chocolate Brownies.  This  issue  had  to be addressed as soon as we got home . One must face up to these sudden fears.  Also  the brownies needing testing  to  check they still tasted the same. What if they were different at the other end of the tin?  It's hard being a  chocolate brownie  tester...

Bullied by a butterfly

Everyday at around 4pm  a Red Admiral butterfly arrives on our picnic table. Clearly it is HIS picnic table and no one else is allowed to sit at it. He fights off everyone, other butterflies, blackbirds, bumblebees and me. He rushes in, beautiful wings whirling and antennae waggling  fiercely. He lands on my head and on the table in front of me glaring menacingly. Everyday he wins too as angry or not he is so brave I have to admire him! Such conviction that he owns the world!

Youth

Barney our Clumber cross Springer spaniel is 13 years old. We know that's very old for him but he doesn't.  This morning he ran off with one of my trainers, just like he used to years ago.Well really he hobbled off slowly, but  he still gave me that "catch me if you can, come on chase me" look. Of course I did chase him. Very slowly! Hope I feel like that when I am  over a hundred like him!

Mary moments

My lovely friend Jill has introduced me to the  naive paintings of Mary Newcomb. She painted  pictures of  rural life and the secret  world of insects. Her paintings have made me look much harder at the world around me. Now Jill and I swop 'Mary moments' when we have seen something which makes us smile. Last week I found a  huge May bug asleep in the middle of a bright pink rose, yesterday I saw three crows at equal distances chatting on a fence . These are 'Mary moments'. I bet we all see them but don't know what they are....now you know!