ABC/ATCs Complete Set and Other Crafty Things

Susan Boyle: I Dreamed A Dream at Musicroom.com - Sheet Music & Songbooks

For any musical enthusiasts, Susan Boyle's Sheet music and songbook is now out for voice, piano and guitar. I have her CD on my Christmas list. When I hear her sing, it still sends shivers down my spine. For those who don't know, Susan was an entrant in 'Britain's Got Talent' and wowed everyone with her amazing voice, although she looked quite frumpy when she walked on stage.

ABC of ATCs Around the World

In this group of 10, as some of you will know, we have been going through the alphabet and making an Artist Trading Card for each letter then swapping with each other. We have reached 'Z' and I have today posted my full set on the blog, featured on my profile page. Some of the others have put on their complete sets too, so pop over if you'd like to see.

All My Amazing Alphabet

My Wonderful Complete Set of ABC ATCs from Around the World. I love them all and this whole thing has been fantastic. Thanks everyone.



A is for Apple by the Boss herself - Teri


B for Bananas, Butterfly, Ball from Soulbrush


C for Carp by Mim



D for Desert Rose by Marianne



E for Energy by Lynn

F for Feel Free by Lolo


G is for Goat by Lisa


H is for H by Laure!


I is for India by Linda - Stampmaiden


J is for Juggler by Teri


K is for Kick Boxer by Soulbrush


L is for a lumpy Lumpfish by Mim


M is for Maneki Neko by Marianne


N is for Needle by Lynn


O is for Oranges in a Blue Bowl by Lolo


P is for Platypus by Lisa


Q is for Quite Right by Laure


R is for Retired Rebel by Linda - Stampmaiden


S is for Sand Dollar by Teri


T is for Tuesdays by Soulbrush


U is for Upside Down Catfish by Mim of course!


V is for Violet by Marianne


W is for WOW by Lynn


X is for X Marks the Spot on this Treasure Map by Lolo. I have to say this is my favourite!


Y is for Yak by Lisa


Z is for Z by Laure of the lovely letters.

A closer view.

I have also been making some papier mache pots, some not finished yet:

I rather like how this one has turned out!

New Purchases

I bought these 2 lovely bright red mugs, they're big too, for lots of tea!

They are white inside. I love mugs.

The sheet behind was the start of another Christmas collage, but I decided the card is too thick to cut up for cards, so I'll just put it on the wall over Christmas, or somewhere! The flash caught the middle.

And here are my lovely warm slippers. I know, they're a bit 'old lady' but I don't like the 'mule' sort as I often pop out into the garden in them.

Well, that's about it for now. A 'different' blog from me and I hope you enjoyed it.

Sunshine and Flowers 25th November 2009

Lake Walk

I couldn't believe it when the sun was shining today, so I took Buster down to the lake - the short walk this time. Unlike our last walk, when the heavens opened almost as soon as we'd got out of the door, the sun stayed out. There wasn't much heat in it and it was windy, but lovely all the same.

This is the stream we walk past that flooded the bottom of our road. I took this 2 days ago.

You can see that things have calmed down a lot in the photo above, taken today.

Walking along the road to the lake and half of it is dry at least.

The sky was beautiful and the sun shone on the wet grass.

We passed Kevin's tractor and Merriman is sitting by the barn, guarding the cows, now warm inside.
The fishing stand is still well under water. You can just see the sign at the end of it poking out of the water. I took this from Kevin's garden.
This was as far as we could venture today.
As I turned to go back to the path, this cloud was over Kevin's house. It almost looks like smoke belching from his chimney.

Lough Graney looks beautiful, blue and calm.


There were more wonderful clouds on the way back.
The wind farm was quite clear on the horizon. If you click on any photo to enlarge it, you can see more detail.

Grasses and Wire

Kevin's cattle in the barn, happily feeding. Buster wondered if there was anything for him!
More super clouds, one like a teddy's head, and Lough Graney in the distance. Sunshine!

Probably my favoutite photo of the day.

Here I joined 2 photos to show the long shadows the sun was making on the hillside.


In The Deenery Garden Today

This little sycamore tree is just inside our gate and the leaves are only just turning.

A pretty fern with leaves below it and gravel on the right among mossy stones.

This rose weaves in among the magnolia bush and is still covered in buds. It's been a real treat this year.

A lot of the campanula has had a new lease of life.

'The Woven' had blown over in the storms, so I stood it up again. It's getting very faded:

The geranium have managed to survive some cold nights.

And the abutilon.

The heather is looking pretty both at the front...
and the back.

A few marigolds are still hanging on

and this pretty osteospernum.

Can you believe this lupin? You'd think it was July!
One of the fairies on The Fairy Hill, a bit buried in the grass!

From there I took this photo of the cottage. You can clearly see the old part and the new, flat roofed extension.

Finally, along it came.... more rain!

Inside, the cats had made themselves comfortable on my chair! Typical.

I hope you enjoyed our walk to the lake and a little one round the garden.

More Flooding, More Menagerie, 24th November 2009

Floods

We were up early this morning as Jim was supposed to be going to Shannon airport to catch a flight to the UK. The floods are still everywhere and it's rained some more overnight and was raining this morning. We headed out and took the 'Tulla' road to the main N18 which takes us off to Shannon. The other day when Jim went that way to fetch me the Tulla road was just flooded near the N18 so we kept our fingers crossed. Luckily, the water there had subsided a bit, so we were ok and Jim was early for his plane of course, then it was delayed!

I decided to drop in at 'Sky Court', a local shopping centre and do a little shopping before heading back home. I didn't want to be too long in case the Tulla road was cut off, then I really wouldn't have any way of getting back. I bought myself a great pair of slippers for 5 euros and even picked up a couple of Christmas presents. I also bought Buster a couple of chews to keep him happy while the rain keeps falling and he stays inside.

I thought I'd try the Gort road and see whether that was open - see above! I sat for a while and watched a land rover go through but our Doblo is rather 'low slung' so I turned round and headed to the Tulla Road.

I took this through the window at the same spot as the one above.


And this a bit further along.


This is the Tulla Road and the orange sign says 'Road Flooded', but, as you can see, it was fine. It's a long way along that road but at least it's high up and away from the floods.

Another photo of the floods, although this is a lake, it is much larger than usual.

I drove back to Killanena, the nearest village to us and pulled in to look at the river that runs under the road there. It was really noisy and rushing down in torrents. I made a montage of both sides of the road:

I then drove along to Ann Broderick's as I haven't seen her for a while and we keep leaving messages to each other but not actually connecting. She was out!

So it was back home to a very excited dog. I gave him one of his 'bacon bones' and that kept him happy for ages.

I've been quite busy at home. We had a huge pile of wood left by the carpenter in the middle of the kitchen/diner, so I moved that into my studio. Much better. I guess the carpenter can't reach us as I think he's from the Ennis area, and much of Ennis is under water with many houses flooded. I then did a bit of grouting of the tiles Jim had put down on the step into my studio.

I've sorted and house worked, had a sleep and carried on! Jim rang and he's with his daughter in our Worthing house in the UK, safe and sounds.

Crazy Animals

Sandy came in 2 days ago and just plonked himself on the rug on top of Buster, who looked so surprised!! Jim took some photos:

You can just see to the right that BlackJack is in Buster's bed!

Buster licks Sandy's ear.

Sandy rubs himself on Buster's leg!

Then moves to snuggle under his chin.

Sandy got very excited and was purring like mad!
Buster pleading for help!
Finally, Buster had had enough and gave Sandy a little nip. That ended the games. A dog can only put up with so much.

That's about all the news. I am trying to catch up with blogs - there are so many good ones and not enough time to read them all.

I love my slippers, they're so warm and snuggly.

Happy Wednesday everyone (well,it's gone midnight).

Rest of Suffolk Break, More Flooding.

Weds 18th November

On the Wednesday, Jason took us to Frankie and Benny's for lunch. We decided it was his firm's Christmas outing!! Sam, Jack and Kitty came too and the waitress was very friendly and helpful. We had a lovely meal and chat, then took Jason back home to work and we carried on to Bury St Edmunds for a spot of shopping.


Jack at Frankie and Benny's


Kitty gearing up for her lunch. What a smile!


Jason with Jack and 2 helium balloons.


Jack received a bag with puzzles and colouring things in, plus these dice! He liked them. He's showing evidence of his dessert - chocolate ice cream! He has such blue eyes, unlike Kitty's - hers are dark brown. Oh, I had pancakes with ice cream, cream and maple syrup. Mmmm.

I took loads of photos of Kitty at home, but will try and choose just a few:

I love this one, where she's amused by her reflection!
A good photo of Jack sitting on his table and one more of Kitty, below:

Her cheeks weren't as red that day.

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

On the Thursday, we went to meet Jack's other Nanny and Grandad in Dereham, where they live. It's about an hour's journey and Jack kept doing the 'are we there yet?' It did seem quite a long way. In fact we stopped to buy a take away coffee on the way.

I'm not normally a shopper, but the shops in Ireland are pretty rubbishy, so I love to wander around the centres in the UK. I saw lots of cushions and other things that would be wonderful for my sun room, in which I'm trying to achieve a Moroccan look. Sadly I couldn't get them in my case!

We all went for lunch in a local pub. 2 lunches out in 2 days - not bad. I sat with Ivor and Maureen and then Jack wanted to sit with us, so poor Sam was left all alone!


Nanny Maureen with Kitty. Kitty does a strange thing with her tongue, she turns it sideways, as she is showing you here! Jack decided to go and sit with his mummy as she was on her own. Bless.

This lovely decoration was across the street.

Kitty soon fell asleep as we toured some shops!

Sam was getting into the Christmas spirit with a reindeer mask! I think it looks great!

Ivor and Maureen in the car park!

What a busy time I had! We went back home via Asda, where I bought myself 2 three quarter length sleeved jumpers and some treats for Buster!!

We had some pizza for tea, then Jason ran me to the airport for the journey home. Well, you know the rest, floods and general chaos!

I have some more photos from yesterday but I'll save those. I must also photograph my A-Z of ATCs now that my set is complete.

I have been doing some papier mache over the past few days. It's been fun and is something I can do 'on the move' as I'm not yet in my studio. Today I grouted some floor tiles that Jim had put down on the steps down to the extension. There's no sign of our carpenter but I suspect he's not been able to get to us. Someone on a forum had said that Killanena is an island! That's us.

So tomorrow morning I am running Jim to Shannon for his trip to the UK for a meeting and to see his 3 children and 2 grandchildren. It's all go. We're not sure whether we'll make it to the airport, but we'll have a go.

Happy Tuesday Everyone.

I'm Back - But Only Just.

Honey Fungus in Jason and Sams' Garden

Floods

I returned to Shannon airport from the UK on Thursday midnight and Jim was there to pick me up. I know the UK news has been all about the floods in Cockermouth, but it's been awful in Ireland too. Jim wasn't sure whether he'd even make it to the airport. He drove through a too deep flood at one point and the car was spluttering but he managed to make it across.

We set off home and every route we tried was flooded. We took all the back roads we knew and eventually we did make it home, after 2 hours of worried driving.

Our road was a river and Jim had carried out some repairs in the pouring rain on Thursday, but it needed much more. The lane leading to our turn off was just a stream of water and had dug a deep groove out of the right hand side.



Jim stood by Hilary's house and videoed this. Our turning is at the bottom of the hill where it bears right.



The road to the right leads to our cottage and to the left, to Kevin's house and Lough Graney.




This is where some of the water came from, the field to the right of our turning. The stream is usually a little trickle.

These video snippets were taken on Jim's very very old camera, so forgive the quality.

Friday 20th November

Yesterday we realised we would have to repair the road at the bottom. Luckily, the builders had dropped some stone by a farm gate at the top of the road by Hilary's, so we were able to use that, utilising our motorised wheelbarrow to cart it up and down.

Here I am filling in the holes with stone and shale. It seems to have held today. We have had more rain, but the initial deluge lasted 48 hours.

Jim and I drove to Lough Graney at Caher, where the road was flooded and took a few photos:

I'm glad I don't live in that house, on a level with the lake.

This is the road, with a rather attractive tree reflection.

These people lived in the flooded area and had gone back to collect some things. They had a collie dog with them - Buster thought that was great:

In Cork, thousands are without water as the main treatment plant is under water. Many roads around County Clare are still blocked with the floods. Jim needed to go shopping today and did manage to get to Gort, our nearest shopping town, via another round about route. I spent my time cleaning up and generally sorting things out. Jim didn't manage to visit Lidl though:

So it's all been a bit exciting. Jim is going to the UK on Tuesday until Saturday so I hope I will be able to run him to the airport ok - and get home again.

My UK Trip

I went to visit Jason, Sam, Jack and Kitty on Tuesday. I arrived at some unearthly hour in the morning, around 8am and Jason picked me up with Jack - who was very excited as usual! We partook of a MacDonald's breakfast then drove back to J's house. We had to stay in most of the day as Sam had taken her Mum Rene to the hospital for a procedure and had to wait for the phone call to collect her. No problem for me, Jack and I played and Kitty watched.

Jack pulling a cheeky face!

Jack and I made a camp! It kept collapsing though.

Kitty had been fed (as you can see) and was playing with these beads. She had bright red cheeks as she is teething.

In the garden are some beautiful fungi, and I took some photos of that while the sun was shining:

A 'joiner' of the line of fungus.


I shall leave it at that for today and post my photos from Days 2 and 3 in the UK tomorrow.

Love to everyone.

BT
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