Dolly's Dreamings

Little to report

You know, there are some days when there are a whole mess of things I want to say. Maybe a place visited, an event marked, something strange happening. Then there are other days when - nada, nothing.

Today is a nothing day. Not a bad day. Not a special day. Nothing remarkable happened - just a day.

I did take a photo of my sun dresses. See I told you they were nothing special but they were just what I wanted

 

 I have been playing catch up with my pages for my project 366 and today I have week 18 to share.

I am still a little behind but hope to be caught up soon. It is coming up to half term so hopefully I will be up to date then.

Anyway - week 18.

Now I would like to share this video but I am not sure it will play on here in the format I have. Let's see.

I have uploaded it as a file so let's see if it works.
If you are not sure you want to see it it is a video of a cat with a very very very persistant pigeon or dove singing in said cat's ear. I am surprised the bird made it!

Download Rolachata

Today I am thankful for

• just a very ordinary day

and finally my one minute devotional page is

Who’s buried in Grant’s Tomb? It’s a bit of a one-line joke, but in all the years I’ve lived close to Grant’s Tomb, and for all the times I’ve driven past it on its bluff overlooking the Hudson River, and even when the boys were in nursery school right next door, I’d never visited it. Neither had my wife. So on Memorial Day last year, after paying bills, doing some gardening, and feeling generally grateful to have a day to catch up, we set off on our expedition.

“Better get some gas first,” Carol said, noticing the gauge.

“Should we stop at the market on the way?”

By the time we got to Grant’s Tomb and parked the car, it was 5:00 P.M. “I wonder when it closes,” I said, worried. We marched up the wide marble steps beneath the flags and bunting, and I pushed the door. Locked. I put my hands up to the glass and peered inside. Closes at 5:00 P.M., said the sign.

All at once, I felt foolish and selfish. Here was a chance to do what Memorial Day was set aside for, and we’d missed it through our own busyness. Yes, catch-up days are a blessing, but isn’t it good to remember just what a holiday is for? I sank down on the steps, disappointed and irritated with myself.

Just then, the door opened and a park ranger stepped out.

“Would you like to come inside for a minute?” he asked.

Would we ever!

I can now tell you on full authority who’s buried in Grant’s Tomb: Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, Julia. Next year, I’ll go back earlier, so I can tell you what else is to be found inside.

 

It's just like summer

It really is just like summer her.

Oh wait a minute - it IS summer ... well nearly.

The weather has been glorious again. Not quite as hot and cloudless as yesterday but plenty good enough for the obligatory prone time int he garden - and very nice it was too.

We headed out to Poole this afternoon as I really really wanted some sundresses for my holiday - and for home too if it is this nice.

I am not a dress sort of girl really. I ear skirts and dresses ever day to work and weekends and holidays are strictly trousers or crops or shorts. BUT - I have been hankering for some pretty sundresses as I know they will be much cooler in Florida.

But they are hard to find ... well they are for me anyway. I don't do short - I have horrible legs and especially horrible knees. The knee I damaged badly is still misshapen and I have always has very pudgy knees (well very pudgy everything really but knees especially) I also wanted sundresses I could wear without a bra which means they have to have some sort of structure (pudgy there too!)

Couldn't find what I wanted anywhere until .... well I found the perfect little sundress. It is crinkle cotton so won't crease and if it does it won't notice. It is strappy but supportive and just the right length. It was cool and pretty and pink. Oh and then there was the black and white one, the white and black one, the blue and white denim looking one, the cream and brown one and the peacock blue one. Mmmmmm

Well the chances of finding the right dress again was not looking good and it would have been a shame to come home and wish I had bought another one. So suddenly they all appeared at the checkout as there was a special offer and I now have 6 new dresses for £80.

We came home via the quay and there was one of the tall ships in and so it acted as the photo of the day.

I have a new page to share today too made with a stunning new collection I have been playing with. It is my favourite colour scheme at the moment - the cream and lilac and green. This is a collection called Serenity by Indogo Designs at Pickleberrypop.

 
She makes glorious masks whch just lend themselves so well to subtle blending. The photo is another from the bluebell woods at Pamphill which we love so much.

Today I am thankful for

• those perfect little dresses
• a husband who insists I buy stuff
• Happy hour at Starbucks - yey!

Preparations

It has been a magnificent day today - absolutely glorious.

There has been a very strong wind, but that has been a good thing as I would never have lasted as long as I did in the garden without it.

It has been hot hot hot - and fabulous.

I would hate you to think I had been working in the garden. I have just been prone ... front and back. Bliss.

Today has been all about getting ready for the Jubilee. I have downloaded a lot of stuff for the children next week for our celebrations. We did a fun Jubilee treasure hunt together whilst sat outside. I have made some Jubilee themed pages and we have begun our preparations for our street party.

Our street closure notices - yes we did it properly this time and applied for a street closure - were put up today. We had great fun tying them to lamp posts down the road and on the gates.

Our neighbours are as excited as we are and I am busy making reminder invites for everyone.

My photo of the day is our notices.

 
I have  new page to share today which I made last week. Most of my new stuff tends to be CT work as I now get to have a lot of CT kits to work with which is fabulous. However it means I post them a week after I make them as by then they have been released in store.

This was made with a kit from Pickleberrypop   Life everyday (May) element pack by deb fisher designs at Pickleberrypop

It was from our day at Minterne Gardens

 

I absolutely LOVE the colours - those greens and lilacs. It is a combo I am going to be using over and over and over again.

LOVE IT!

I have a video clip to share today. Nigel is very into motorsports - always has been - and loves Speedway. This clip is NOT speedway but you can't fail to be impressed with this guy and what he can do on a bike.

If you are board do spin through and see the end though!

 

Today I am thankful for

• The sunshine
• chance to relax
• GREAT new digi kits to play with
• News that my Joann order has arrived!

and my one minute devotional is

“Greg, I think I might have finally found a hutch for those china dishes,” I said to my husband, calling him over to see a picture I’d found online. I’d been searching for weeks for just the right cabinet for my great-grandmother’s dishes, to no avail.

Grandma Mary had brought boxes full of the dishes when she paid us a visit last spring. “I want you to have these,” she said. Opening up the boxes, I found the most beautiful dishes I’d ever laid eyes on. I reached in, running my fingers gently over the dainty roses painted on each piece. “They were your great-grandmother’s wedding present from your great-grandfather,” she went on. “Take good care of them.”

“I will,” I promised.

That was harder than I thought. We had no space for them. Weeks passed, and the dishes stayed carefully wrapped while we tried to find a cabinet that would fit them and our décor. Lord, please help me find the right cabinet for Great-grandmother’s dishes, I prayed.

Finally I found one that fit the bill, I hoped. The website was for a small antiques store in Ashland, about a half hour from our house. “Great-grandmother Zadora owned a coffee shop here over 50 years ago,” I told Greg. “Maybe it’s a sign.”

“Let’s check it out,” Greg said. We made our way to the antiques store. To our delight, we spotted the china hutch I’d seen online. Not only was it our style, but it was on sale, too! We bought it and took it home.

“The cabinet was made for these,” I cried, placing the precious dishes into the hutch. Closing the cabinet door, my fingers brushed against some rough grooves inside. Oh, no. Damage? I slipped my glasses on for closer inspection.

Great-grandmother’s dishes belonged in there all right. It was her name carved in the wood.

Absolutely glorious

It has been an absolutely glorious day today.

The sun has blazed all day - too hot really to do anything at all other than just slump and enjoy it.

Give me half the chance and I'm your girl for just that. Tomorrow, weather permitting, I am planning on doing just that for most of the day.

I was on a trip this morning to a local church - it is one of the prettiest churches I have ever seen with a stunning rood screen which is aparently one of only two in the country like it - the other being in Norwich.

The photo doesn't do it justice really as it is very bright and prettty pretty.

The numbers are for a church quiz we were doing with the children.

I chose the stunning reredos as my photo of the day.

 

I have a page to share today which is another made with Dawn Inskip's awesome new template collection. They are all so fabulous and I am doing a happy happy dance that I have so many of them

So - when the temperature is 28 degrees - and very humid - what better way to cool off than memories of snow.

Snow far snow good then LOL

Today I am thankful

laughter - had some good laughs today

sunshine - loads of that

FRIDAY

 

I slumped at the breakfast table, in my robe, still bleary-eyed and fuzzy-headed from waking up, when I suddenly remembered that I was supposed to be at the doctor’s office for an appointment in 45 minutes. I quickly got dressed, drove across town, and arrived there 10 minutes late.

That was the beginning of a day during which everything went wrong. I stopped to shop for groceries and didn’t have my checkbook. When I got back home, I took off my glasses and then couldn’t find them. I burned the lunch. I spilled ketchup on my slacks. By the time the piano tuner arrived (I’d forgotten he was coming), my nerves were a wreck.

I got the tuner settled at the piano, and then I sank into a chair. The tuner ran his fingers up and down the keys, producing jangled sounds. I hadn’t realized until then how badly out of tune my piano had become. Just like my day, I thought.

The tuner began working on the strings, tapping the keys and testing the tone as he adjusted the pins. One by one, the strings slid into place, producing warm, rich tones.

“I need to retune my day,” I said.

Usually, I spend a little quiet time each morning, focusing on God and asking for His help through the coming hours. Well, it’s never too late, I told myself. Relaxing, I closed my eyes, centered down, and prayed.

Dear Lord, I feel out of tune with You today. Please touch me with Your peace.

—MADGE HARRAH

 

An early Jubilee Party

I am loving everything leading up to the Jubilee. I am loving the red white and blue, I am loving the union jacks sprouting everywhere, I am loving that we have a street party planned, just loving it all.

I went to an early street party today - well kind of.

Marks and Spencer have special cardholder events and there was one today so after work I headed off to castle Point. Beautiful warm sunshine (though way way too hot in store ... when will this country learn about air conditioning) clothes to try on and buy, free Cava and cheese nibbles and cupcakes and 20% off plus a free £5 voucher. What's not to like!

And of course, it would have been rude to resist wouldn't it. I bought a pretty navy and white top and another top that was a real bargain. The second top was Indigo (I love that range) and was so pretty but it had no label of any description on. I asked at the checkout if they could tell me how much it was and she said yes and checked the bar code. She said 'Oh it is a deleted line and was in the sale. It was £8'. Now bearing in mind similar tops are £26 I was pretty keen to buy it, but then she said it had been reduced again but it was a non returnable item. It was now £4!

Well it would have been rude not to wouldn't it.

 

Dawn Inskip has a brand new collection out and Oh Boy - it is one you are not going to want to miss.

If you are a fan of her templates - and how can you possibly not be - then this is a must.

It is an amazing colelction of 24 new detailed awesome templates - and a free bonus alphabet too.  You can find them here

It's incredible. I am a lucky lucky girl to get to play with all of them.  This is one of the pages I made with them

The lion was one of the wire sculptures at the Tower of London taken earlier this month.

Today I am thankful for

• early street parties
• bargains
• getting my shoes off!

and my one minute calendar page is

A friend had died and I’d gone to the funeral home to pay my respects. In a corner, I noticed a boy sitting all alone. “That’s the son of the man who died,” I heard someone say. “He’s deaf. He’s taking his daddy’s death harder than anyone.”

My heart broke for the boy, all lost in a world of his own. I walked over to him and took his hand, hoping he could read my lips as I tried to tell him how very sorry I was. He nodded politely, but I knew I hadn’t really reached him.

Then, as I was leaving, an elderly gentleman entered the room, and as he walked toward him, the boy’s face lit up in recognition. Immediately, the two began communicating in sign language. The boy’s hands flew, unable to get the words out fast enough, as if he were tripping over them at the joy of having someone who at long last truly understood him.

Thinking back, I recalled seeing the gentleman at a church I once visited where he heads a ministry for the deaf. I had observed him translating a sermon, but I’d never had the chance to watch him one-on-one, speaking the very language of a grieving boy’s heart and turning isolation and pain into love and belonging.

Jesus, help me to speak Your language of love.

—ROBERTA MESSNER

Good and hot

Today has been both good and hot. It has been a really good day - but then I guess everyday we have should be viewed as a good day one way or another. It is just that some days you have to look a little harder to find the good. Today it was right there in black and white.

It has also been hot. Fabulously hot. Now I am a winter girl. I like the cold frosty weather but it has been so chilled and dank and dreary I am really loving the sun and the heat at the moment. Long may that continue.

My photo of the day is my car display when I set off home tonight.

29 degrees. WOW - awesome.

My feet, however, haven't cottoned on to summer yet and I now have a splendid collection of blisters where my namby pamby winter feet, used to have=ing socks or tights on, have softened up over the winter and the first rub of a shoe blisters them. It's quite funny really. I had a rub on the top of my toe when I came home. It was a blister that broke pretty much instantly. Last night we went for a wlk and I didn't want it to rub so I put a plaster on it.

The plaster rubbed undeneath qorse than the top was to begin with so now the middle toe on one foot has a raw patch on the top and the bottom. And I have a new one on the other foot tonight.  No doubt they will harden up soon!

I also had a drama today on the way to work as I had another massive nose bleed - this time a real gusher and I was driving so it was all very dramatic. I wish I knew what was causing them as I could perhaps be a little prepared.

I have a page to share today which is another made with one of the Pickleberrypop Pickle Barrel sets, this time one from Dee Bee Creations

 

The photo is of us at Pamphill in the Bluebell woods.

Today I am thankful for

• kindness
• recognition
• praise
• warmth

 

“There are two kinds of people,” a friend of mine told me a few years ago as I was approaching my 40th birthday. “People under the age of 40 and people over it.”

After 40 arrived, I couldn’t help but notice that the age really was the milestone it’s always made out to be. Almost as if on cue, my knees started bothering me if I jogged for too long, and my hair, graying around the temples for some time, started changing color a little faster. Long taken largely for granted, my body was beginning to assert itself as what, in truth, it always had been: a fragile and temperamental piece of machinery destined ultimately to break down.

This year, I turn 45. Over the past couple of years, as I’ve gotten used to being a member of the second of those two kinds of people, I’ve started to notice that people over 40 can also be divided into two general classes: There are those who are clearly worried about age and all it brings with it, and those who, though perhaps not delighted with the gradual failings of the body, aren’t undone by them, either. With faith, with the belief that life’s end is not really an end at all but only the beginning of another infinitely larger life as yet unknown, gray hair and achy knees are not weighty and terrible events, but markers on a journey far from over—indeed, hardly begun.

Lord, keep me ever mindful of the larger life that lies beyond this one.

 

Topless!

OK so yesterday I was topless in a bit of a hurry as it was imperative to get the beetle off me quickly

 

Today I have been topless in a whole other way. It has been glorious and sunny and warm and for the first time in ages I haven't been cold and so on the way home ... well it had to be done.

I went topless for the first time in 2012.

Photo of the day ... me arriving home.

I feel summer is a coming! And boy do we all need a bit of sun. It was sunny at the end of March and the start of April but I was poorly I didn't really appreciate it. This I am ready for!

I have a new page to share today which is another made from the Pickle Barrel and this time it is using a lovely collection of papers, scatters and word art from Jumpstart Designs called Uniquely You

It has the same gorgeous colour palette of the soft pinks, greens and lilacs and it wonderful.

The little girl is pretty cute too - as ever. It was fab to have face time with her the other day - well with all of them. We all have I Phones and so can speak for free and see each other. Did I mention I love my I phone!

Today I am thankful for

• sunshine
• owning a convertible
• a new dvd to watch. Nigel has finally downloaded our holiday footage from 2010. What is it they say ... the cobblers children are always the poorest shod!

 

 And my page a day calendar today is

One steamy summer day, I hurried down to our neighborhood pool in a tizzy. Things seemed to be going the wrong way in our family. “God, why won’t You change things?” I prayed. “I’m tired of all these problems. Nothing I do seems to matter, and I’m working so hard. Where are You?”

I pushed through the metal gate at the pool and ran over to thank my neighbor Mary Ann for watching Thomas, my nine-year-old son. Mary Ann is Megan’s mom, and Megan is very special to me because she’s my four-year-old goddaughter. Born with a heart problem, Megan has gone through three heart surgeries and had her gall bladder removed, but she has amazed everyone with her determination and spunk.

Thomas and Megan were sitting cross-legged on a striped beach towel at the edge of the pool, drinking juice boxes and sharing some Goldfish crackers. Mary Ann called me aside to whisper, “I’ve got to tell you what Thomas did. All the big kids were hurrying to the other side of the pool to eat a snack. Megan didn’t have her flip-flops, and the pavement was burning her feet. Thomas gave her his flip-flops. He dipped his feet into the water to cool them off while he waited for her to walk. Megan was thrilled to be wearing big-boy shoes, but she couldn’t walk very fast, and she kept tripping. So Thomas took off his towel and wrapped her up. Then he picked her up and carried her, letting her wear his shoes the whole way. He walked barefoot. Julie, you should have seen him.”

Lord, You want to pick me up and carry me, but I try to run alone, burning my feet and stumbling along. Help me trust You to carry me.

—JULIE GARMON

Wild over the wildlife

Well, I haven't been home very long and it has already been quite an adventure.

As I have been cooped up all day we decided to go for a brisk walk across the heath before I settled down to work. I just needed to stretch my legs and get some of that sunshine. As it happened I stretched my voice and most of my body. More of that later.

First thing we did was stare at the adder for ages. We have a culvert at the end of our drive which acts as drainage for the heath and we knew, as the heath wardens had been round just before I got home, that there was an adder in the culvert. They had rung and asked Nigel to borrow a bucket to try and get him out but he was having none of it - the snake ... not Nigel.

They put some branches down to give hime something to use to get out.

He was beautiful. About 2 foot long it was nice to watch him from a relatively safe distance. (The wardens have since been back, captured him and re-homed him safely)

 
For those of you across the pond the adder is the only venomous snake we have here in the UK. And yes, we do get them in our garden as we are right on the heath.

Anyway we went for a walk and then I came home ready to work. I felt something prickling my neck/chest and nudged my top a bit then it happened again a couple of minutes later and I looked down and nestled right about to go excavating down my bra was a beetle.

Now those of you who know me well know I love nature - all things in nature - but insects needs to be strictly in their own part of nature which is actually quite a long way away from me.

Nestling on the inside of my top, about to go delving, does NOT constitute an appropriate distance.

I think even if Simon Cowell had come in (Oh yes ... I am afraid so) you wouldn't have seen me get my top off any quicker. By the time Nigel, sat behind me at his desk, turned round, the top was off and everything else was coming off. And the screaming certainly gave my vocal chords a work out as well as arms and legs from all the flailing around and running on the spot! It was an exciting few moments.

Nigel took said top, with beetle ensconced, and re homes him on the heath with the adder. OK so he was a beautiful beetle - a bright peacock blue and green, but NO WAY do I ever want to see one - or any insect - that close again thank you.

We think he was one of these. A Rose Chaffer

Latin name: Cetonia aurata

Size: Approximately 20mm long

Distribution: Found throughout the UK, although thought to be declining in numbers.

Months seen: May to October

Food: Flowers. The larvae live and feed inside rotting timber.

Habitat:Meadows, parks and gardens

Special features:The rose chafer is one of our larger and more attractive beetles. The upper surfaces are an iridescent emerald green and bronze colour. The underside is a bronze colour. There are ragged white marks running widthways across the wing casings which look like fine cracks.

Rose chafers are usually seen in sunny weather feeding on the petals of flowers - especially roses.

 

Anyway enough of our local wildlife for today.

I didn't add my photo of the day for yesterday as I couldn't take it until last night. Nigel runs quizzes - amazing innovative quizzes - and we had one last night so this is my hubby in full flow.

I have a new page to share, which I made as part of my DT work for Pickleberrypop, today.

 This is another for my Paris album. The kit is part of the Pickle Barrel - this is a great mid month offer where all the designers make kits and element packs int he same colour palette and they are all on sale for $1 each - YUP - $1 each. You MUST check it out here

 The May collection is all lilac and pink and totally lush.

The Paris page was made using a new kit called

Hey Girlfriend  by LouCee Creations at Pickleberrypop

And just so you can see some of the other pastels in the colour collection this month here is my next monthly page - week 17 - made with a lovely set Life everyday (May) by deb fisher designs at Pickleberrypop

 Check out these and the other Pickle Barrels designs - you know you want to!

 

Today I am thankful for

• getting the insect OFF ME!!!!!!
• Seeing the adder ... at a distance
• a bit of a walk
• an amazing wonder I didn't capture. We had the most amazing visitor to our bird feeding station yet - a spotted woodpecker. I have only ever seen one once in the garden. We get the green woodpeckers daily - always have had. But the spotted are almost never seen by us and so to see one hanging off one of the feeders was fab. I wasn't quick enough to snap him but I hope he will be back.

And finally my page a day calendar today

Station Two is the busiest station in our fire district. I recently worked a 24-hour shift at Station Two, running the rescue squad with Jeff.

I like running 911 calls during the day. The hours fly during emergencies. The trouble is, emergencies have no respect for my need to sleep. Since each 911 call generates a lengthy report, as few as three calls after 10:00 P.M. can mean a sleepless night.

Jeff and I had just returned to the station at 4:00 A.M. following our second call when the alarm went off for “an elderly female who needs help getting from her bed to her wheelchair.” This wasn’t an emergency. We left the station with no adrenaline rush, no lights, no sirens, and no sleep. I wondered if Jeff was as irritated as I was. I got out the map book to direct him, but Jeff said, “I know where this is. I’ve been there a lot.”

Jeff knocked on the apartment door before entering. “Zoe, it’s me, Jeff,” he cheerfully announced. He went back to the bedroom where Zoe was balanced between her bed and her wheelchair. We gently lifted her into her chair. I yawned and began moving toward the door. I hoped to get an hour’s sleep before our shift was over.

Jeff fussed over Zoe for a minute or two and then said, “If you need us, you just call. We’ll be right over.”

I don’t know if Jeff has ever heard the parable of the Good Samaritan. I learned it in Sunday school and then taught it to others. It’s easier to learn and teach a parable than it is to live it. Jeff was Zoe’s Good Samaritan. He had lived the parable for her not once, but many times.

“You relax,” I said to Jeff when we got back to the station. “I’ll write the report.”

Dear God, help me to learn from the examples of the good people You’ve put in my life.

—TIM WILLIAMS

Rather a Sickly Saturday Failure

I love Saturdays and it has been a great one - I will come to the rather sickly section all in good time.

We had a late breakfast - well late for us - and headed out to Stewarts Garden Centre. We stopped on the way at the seaside and had lunch - an ice cream ... which was to prove one of the healthier things we ate today... and bought some new clothes - yes WE .... even Nigel succumbed to the bargain.

We bought a few new shrubs for the garden to fill spaces left by things we had killed last year. OK so we are NOT gardeners. Not much seems to grow in our soil but heathers, azaleas, rhododendrons and Pieris and so we bough four different varieties of pieris to kill - I mean to plant.

Actually, I have to say the garden looks good at the moment. The weather conditions must have been just perfect as we have a terrific show of azaleas this year - beautifully vibrant and each of the dozen or so plants we have are absolutely covered with blooms. They all bloom at slightly different times too so the ones that have just about finished are replaced by the ones just about coming out. It means the show lasts for a good 6 weeks if not longer.

Anyway - plants bought we stopped off to get Nigel new shoes and me a new handbag and beach wear for holiday and then came home to plant said plants.

And then the sickly bit happened.

We had a stupid stupid stupid idea of baking cupcakes for our Jubilee Street Party. I could see them in my mind - perfectly formed cupcakes in red white and blue cases, frosted to perfection, little flags stuck on them presented so beautifully for the rest of the street to admire. It was a very Nigella - or actually Kirsty - moment.

I KNEW they would be perfect but figured it was only sensible to have a dummy run first to check they were going to be as perfect as I believed.

Heck who was I kidding. I hate baking, I am no good at baking, I didn't even have a recipe I had to ask friends.

So Nij did some shopping - no we didn't have any store cupboard ingredients. I don't have a store cupboard - well not with anything that is still within sell by date. I have a fridge, which we eat empty each week, stocked with fruits and veg and salad and stuff. I have a freezer stocked with mostly stuff Nigel eats, I have a condiments cupboard that is amazing and some of the things get used. And then I have three cupboards full of .... um porridge (eaten daily) granola bars, crispbreads, tinned stuff I thought might be a good idea, left over oddments from previously thwarted baking efforts that need throwing out and nothing much else of any use. Oh and three cupboards full of all the gadgets that I thought would turn me into a domestic goddess.

The thing is I am not a good cook. I am not a bad cook. I can cook everyday meals and I do a mean Christmas dinner, but I don't like cooking. No - change that. I HATE cooking. I really don't find anything enjoyable in it at all. And I think when you don't like it you are not good at it. There is no love in it and I think something like cooking has to have love.

Anyway, armed with recipe from my padder friends I set about making a mess ... I mean making cakes. Now in the olden days, back when I was young, we didn't have cupcakes. We had fairy cakes and these were going to be fairy cakes as they were small. I didn't have a muffin tray or anything. I had little patti tins and little paper cases. So small was the order of the day.

I figured I would halve the recipe as I only wanted to make a test batch and six would be fine. So I carefully measure half the dry ingredients, half the butter and then put the full amount of eggs in! See - that's why I don't cook.

So I added the same again of everything figuring now we would have 12.

They were actually very very light and tasted lovely. We over-indulged, however, on the raw mixture. OK I KNOW you shouldn't eat it. Something about raw eggs and salmonella etc. But we never bake and we were like two five year olds with Mommy's baking bowl. YUM.

However, as adults with no-one there to stop you it is possible to over indulge. Especially if there are not enough cake cases for mixture and you hate waste! You can see where the sickly is heading can't you.

They looked small but OK when they came out. Mind you the empty case shows the one we ate when it was still warm! We really ought NOT to be allowed in the kitchen unsupervised by a responsible adult.

Then we made the frosting and realised we didn't really have a piping bag. We did have a very very old (older than me as it was Mommy's) piping set - the metal syringe and plunger type. We boiled it to ensure it was OK and then realised the only tip that fitted was tiny. So very very very small piped frosting ensued and then I gave up and Nigel piped and I made 'snow effect' topping. And then we ate what was left and then - well, if anyone asks me to eat a cupcake int he near future they may get a different reaction than they bargain for.

So - no cupcakes for the street party. I'll buy more wine instead. Far more sensible and far less likely to make us feel ill. I can hold my drink .... it's the sugar I can't cope with.

So my picture of the day - the worst ugliest sickliest cupcakes in the world. ... now in the fridge as that is where I put anything vaguely edible and because I have no clue what to do with them as neither of us want to eat any more.

 

So, I am absolutely pants atbaking but I am OK at scrapping so I am planning to stick to what I can do OK with.

The page I have to share today is another with Dawn's new Cowboys and Indians kit.

When we did our Wild west tour we had one of those special moments. A moment you don't plan but that is just right. We never planned on staying at Cheyenne but we travelled further than we anticipated and so as Nigel thought it had a great sound of the old wild west we booked in there for the night. It was a Saturday night - with a great hotel and a fab meal - and we were up and out early on the Sunday. The town was deserted. We just didn't see any people. It was early on a Sunday and so they were all obviously resting after a night on the town line dancing or whatever. And we had it to ourselves. We were fascinated by the huge pained cowboy boots. This was long before London's elephants, Bournemouth's lions etc. and we had such fun finding them and taking daft pictures.

 

Today I am thankful for

• having other skills as baking clearly isn't one I possess
• Laughs together
• simple Saturdays

and my one minute devotional calendar

“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” I told my stepmother, Gloria. She’d called in the wee hours of the morning to tell me my father didn’t have much time left.

Dad had battled with emphysema and lung cancer for years, and he had told me a week earlier that he was ready for the pain to be over. Still, I wanted him to hold on long enough to know that I was with him at the end. I would have to hurry. Dad was nearly a thousand miles away, in Grand Island, Nebraska.

My husband, Max, and I hopped the first flight we could to Omaha. I prayed that I would make it to Dad in time. Dad, I’ll be there, I hope you know it.

As the plane landed, I checked my watch. 10:30. We hurried to the rental car and drove to the hospital.

When we stepped into Dad’s dim hospital room, Gloria explained the situation.

“He’s still in a coma,” she said. “The doctor says he could go at any moment.”

Max and Gloria left the room so I could talk to Dad alone. “I love you, Dad,” I said. “I’m very proud to be your daughter.” I was glad I got to say it, but I still wished Dad knew I had rushed to be by his side. I hugged him and prayed to God for a sign that Dad was aware of my presence.

But there was no sign, and he died soon after.

After the funeral, I asked Gloria if Dad had ever regained consciousness after entering the coma.

“Only for a moment,” she said. “He did something strange the morning you arrived. He sat up in bed and said, ‘The plane has landed. It’s time to go.’ I looked at my watch, just to see if I could make some sense out of it. It was 10:30. I still don’t know what he meant.” 10:30. Just when I landed. He knew I was there.

Thank You, Father, that my times are in Your hands.

Friday Feeling

I love that Friday Feeling. It's not just that it is Friday it's that there is a weekend to catch up. I end up leaving things and thinking 'I will do that at the weekend' and then have loads to do. But at least there is a little more time.

I am glad it is Friday.

I will start with the photo of the day. Boo lives, almost permanently, in the scrap room/office. It is where her beloved 'Daddy' is most of the time and where he is, she is. It is also a gated room safe from the Fiki Monster whose one goal in life is to either love her to death or murder her. So she lives in here. And actually she lives on my chair or my desk most of the time as most of the time I am at work.

So I get a rather disgruntled cat when I get in and would like to sit on 'her' chair or work at 'her' desk.

So my disgruntled Boo rather upset that she has lost her space for the weekend.

 

In fairness, whilst she adores Nigel, we get along well too and she will snuggle up with me even though I steal her spaces.

I have another page to share today made with Dawn Inskip's new Cowboys and Indians collection.

I have always wanted to stay on a ranch - preferably a proper Dude ranch where I could ride and herd cattle and stuff (Now at this point you have to bear in mind I can't ride, have never herded cattle and am not keen on dust, flies and anything vaguely 'farmy') But the dream of being a cowgirl was very real. So when we went to Death Valley and the choice - and I do mean THE choice was to stay at Furnace Creek Ranch I couldn't resist it. It was a hotel but was also ranch like - even if a little contrived. I loved it. They had a Borax museum, loads of old artefacts, great rooms, a restaurant and saloon and also temperatures of 125 in the shade! But I loved every minute of it.

Today I am thankful for

• a bit of a break
• My chair which I have just forcibly reclaimed

 

and my one minute devotional calendar page

 The flight was wonderful. My son William and I were traveling back to Atlanta from Connecticut where we had spent the weekend with my daughter Rebecca. Crammed into two coach-class seats, we colored and solved puzzles in his Mickey Mouse activity book. William gazed out the window. “Where are the birds?” he asked. “Can we sit on that cloud?”

Then he instructed me in the art of playing with Beanie Babies: “Keep your hand on the Beanie Baby. Don’t talk like Daddy.” I tried to keep his feet off the seats and his voice down as his play grew intense. Finally, he vigorously twirled his stuffed animal, accidentally flinging it into the air. It landed in the lap of a startled woman four rows away. I tried to read an article on wide-format inkjet printers, and I tried to work on my laptop computer, but William allowed none of that. We played during the entire flight.

As our plane descended into Atlanta, he paused to gaze out the window. The setting sun peered out from behind a cloud, and golden rays fanned all around. Suddenly, William exclaimed, “Daddy, I see God!”

“William, we can’t see God,” I said.

“Why?” he asked. “Where is God?”

Looking into his deep blue eyes and watching the yellowing sunlight reflected in his hair, I said, “I’m not sure, but I can feel Him in my heart.”