Dolly's Dreamings

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.

It's a 'punny' day and the gruffalo

I think beingw ith children all day get's to me sometimes.

I develop a very childlike sense of humour at times.

And anyone who knows me even a little knows that the particular sense of humour I have means I love puns of every description.

I received a great e mail with some of the funniest jokes (well I thought they were funny) as they were all puns.

I changed my iPod's name to Titanic.  It's syncing now.

When chemists die, they barium.

Jokes about German sausage are the wurst.

I know a guy who's addicted to brake fluid.  He says he can stop any time.

 

You see what I mean. It just happens and they make me giggle, often out loud. I couldn't resist sharing them with you to see if they make you giggle too.

How does Moses make his tea?  Hebrews it.

I stayed up all night to see where the sun went.  Then it dawned on me.

This girl said she recognized me from the vegetarian club, but I'd never met herbivore.

I'm reading a book about anti-gravity.  I just can't put it down.

I did a theatrical performance about puns.  It was a play on words.

So I guess that explains part of the title of today's prompt. Here goes the rest. Nij has an awful cough - gone right on his chest and is now on antibiotics. Hopefully that will clear it but his voice is deep and husky and, in fact, he is a right old

GRUFF FELLOW!!!

Sorry!

Here is my photo of the day - my very own Gruffalo.

I have a new page to share today.  It's another of my London pages. You will remember when I went last week it was grey and dull and dreary weather, but I was struck by the spots of colour I saw. I did a paper page of this too, but this is the digital version

all of the supplies are by Dawn Inskip from kits called London Calling, Fever Pitch and Simply Red.

I also have the link for the Treasure Trails

www.treasuretrails.co.uk

Today I am thankful for

• laughter and jokes, especially puns
• my cats. Today has reminded me how special they are and how I love them so very very much

A few final puns

They told me I had type-A blood, but it was a Type-O.

PMS jokes aren't funny; period.

I didn't like my beard at first.  Then it grew on me.

Did you hear about the cross-eyed teacher who lost her job because she couldn't control her pupils?

When you get a bladder infection urine trouble.

I tried to catch some fog, but I mist.

What do you call a dinosaur with an extensive vocabulary? A thesaurus.

I used to be a banker, but then I lost interest.

I dropped out of communism class because of lousy Marx.

All the toilets in New York's police stations have been stolen.  The police have nothing to go on.

I got a job at a bakery because I kneaded dough.

Velcro - what a rip off!

A cartoonist was found dead in his home.  Details are sketchy.

The earthquake in Washington obviously was the government's fault.

and my favourite ....

Broken pencils are pointless.

and even the LOL cat today

Well I hope I made you smile - and now here is the daily inspirational page from my calendar.

 

My wife, Sharon, always dreamed of being a philanthropist. Now she is. When I married her, she used to get stars in her eyes just thinking about it. “If I were a rich lady, I could give away jillions and jillions of dollars to all the causes that I love,” she would say. Unfortunately, she married a teacher, and we have lived on my income alone.

So she became a philanthropist anyway. Every week, she finds new ways to help people with what little money she can scrape together. I find her lists lying around the house: “Send fifteen dollars to missionary James Hla.” “Make a cross-stitched pillow for Judy’s shower.”

“Give the rummage sale dish to the newlyweds.”

“Bake brownies for Rick, my Sunday School teacher.”

“Send a sympathy card to Betty Vasper.”

Every day, I see stars in her eyes because she discovered that she doesn’t need jillions to be a philanthropist, which, after all, simply means “a lover of humankind.” Furthermore, she has escaped the complications that come with big money—security problems, anxiety, heavy taxes.

Have you ever dreamed of doing something great for humankind? Why not practice by giving a quarter to a child? Mow your neighbors’ lawn while they are on vacation. Offer to tutor a struggling student.

Get some stars in your eyes.

God, make me a lover of humankind right here where I live and with whatever I have to give.

—DANIEL SCHANTZ

 

 

Feeling scrap happy

It's been a scrap happy day today. There were lots of challenges around and I have fun taking part in them. I have managed to scrap loads of pages and it has been good de-stress therapy after a busy week.

One of the challenges that I did manage - in the nick of time really - was the weekly challenge over at UKS.

It had a sketch to go with it. I am getting quite used to adapting the sketches now as they are always 12 x 12 and I don't often paper scrap in 12 x 12 anymore.

This was my creation for the challenge

 

 

 I broke into my new Portobello Road papers as they were justr ight for this series of photos.

London was awfully grey and drap but the reds were real splashes of colour. I printed the bunting from Dawn's Fever Pitch kit (I have used this so much)

 

 Typepad is being a nightmare and you may well see this post with no pictures as it really does not want to play

 I have taken a picture of the day and it is of 'the other cat' - the one people tend to forget. The two Bengals are such characters and yet we also have the very special Boo. She is getting on in years now, is almost completely deaf, has cataracts and we think also has 'brain clouds'or feline dementia (and yes ... it is a real condition) . Old she may be, and definitely a little bit mad, but we love our Boo.

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• Lovely scrappy days
• having three cats who we love and who love us back

And I have a cute cute video to share that Tink posted today.

It's called 'How to stop a nightmare'

Enjoy

 

 

and it rained and rained and rained and rained and rained

Oh boy

That drought must be wearing thin now - surely. It's been a shocking day with high winds and torrential rain. Yuk yuk yuk.

However, it does make it a good day for being in and being crafty.

We did pop out briefly (well Starbucks don't deliver .... yet!)  and on the way back from Poole we called into Pets at Home to see if they sold the sort of dome for the feeder that would stop the large birds from gobbling everything up in record time. They didn't. But we did get a new litter tray for the CFH. Their old one was in need of replacing and we have to have a big one as - well frankly Fiki is enormous.

 Of course, as with any single thing that comes into this house, even if it not for them, it had to have the full CFH inspection.

 

 

 and just because ...

He looked a little baffled to be honest

and no it doesn't usually sit in the middle of the kitchen. That was just for photography purposes. It lives in the far corner of the utility room, well away from us.

I am loving being on the Pickleberrypop Creative Team and having lovely things to work with.

One of the designers whose work I have loved for a long time is Indigo Designs. I already had a few of her kits and today I worked with a new one which has just been released.

It is called The Story Never Ends and is an amazing collection.

and if you click ont he picture or THIS LINK it will take you right to the collection in store.

Isn't it fabulous?

I made this with it this morning.

Little Emily doing what she does so well - just looking beautiful. The photo was perfect for the kit too.

Today I am thankful for

• a nice warm dry home to be in whilst it is horrible outside.

And finally the last few of the howlers from the children.

 

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and have a good work week next week x

 

 

Bath mini album - a labour of love

I thought I would share the mini album I made of our trip to Bath. If I am brutally honest I didn't share it before because I hadn't photographed it for the simple reason I was sick of the sight of it.

I love making mini albums usually and this is a reasonably simple construction, but it too me longer than I wanted and I wanted to be doing other scrapping but as my desk was covered with all the coordinating stuff for the album I had to finish it first. And it has a lot of pages and tags to fill

To be honest, now I have gone back to it, it is much better than I thought it was. I absolutely hated it when I first finished it.

So feel free to skip to the other stuff as there follows quite a lot of photos - I think I am of the view that I stuck with it and finished it so I want to record it.

Apart from all of the pockets - there are 4 of those - most pages have pockets ont he pages too and reversible photo mats and tags.

 

 The page above is a map I found in one of the brochures and I drew our route on it so we could look back on where we went.

As mini books go it is not very mini, measuring 6" square roughly

 I used the same muted tones and warm golds and browns to tie in with the Bath stone that was obviously the colour scheme of the photos.

 

 I also tied it together by using the same die cut shapes repeatedly and the same set of stamps and inks on most of the pages. It helped to unify it.

 

 And you learn by your mistakes. The fancy edges on the pockets look pretty but are a nightmare and next time - Oh my goodness do I actually think I would ever make another one!!!! - next time I would punch the inserts only, not the pockets.

 I managed to use up a lot of my 'heritage type' scraps on the project

 

The large beads you can just about see in the spine helped to keep the pages spaced as with the large number of tags and inserts it is very thick and lumpy

It does give a lasting record of the trip. And there you have it.

I have a photo of the day to share which is our clematis which is almost in full bloom and sadly, with the heavy winds we are having I am guessing the flowers won't last long.

 

 Today I am thankful for

• lazy days of scrapping
• watching our birds enjoy their feeder

And I have to share this that Nigel sent me as it is utterly amazing

Enjoy!

 

And finally my page from my one minute devotional calendar today is

Mom’s funeral had been that morning. Now my siblings, stepfather, and I were all gathered around her dining room table, sharing stories about Mom, trying to distract ourselves from the pain of losing her.

My four-year-old niece Kim, too young to understand what was going on, sat in my sister Diana’s lap, a pencil in hand, scribbling furiously in a coloring book. Where did she get that? I wondered, sure her mom hadn’t brought it to the grave site earlier that day.

I sat at the table, too worn out to do anything but watch Kim making spirals in her book. Finally my niece got bored, laid the book faceup on the table, and slid down off my sister’s lap. I looked closer at the page. With the book lying open, I could see it wasn’t a coloring book—it was full of crossword puzzles.

Diana began going through the puzzle on the opened page while the rest of us talked. “Woman’s name, four letters,” she said, needing help with one of the clues.

“Enid,” my stepfather answered. Mom’s name.

I smiled sweetly at him. “I think there are more popular four-letter names than that,” I said gently. “Jane, Mary …”

“I’ll come back to it,” Diana said.

A few minutes later, after she filled in more squares, she looked up from the book. “It ends with a D,” she said. Then she had the second letter. “N,” she said. Finally Diana filled in the first square of the word. It was an “E.” “Enid” was correct. We all marveled at the coincidence. It was as if Mom were sending a message to us, telling us she was still with us.

“Thank God you brought that book for Kim to color in,” I said to Diana.

“I didn’t bring it,” Diana said. “I don’t know where she got it.”

Lord, thank You for Your comforting “coincidences.”

—NANCY VECILLA

Finishing the challenges

It was glorious here this morning - a little chilly out of the sun but very bright. So we went for a walk at Sandbanks which was lovely. It looked like it was going to rain but keeps perking up again.

How glorious does the beach look and how lucky we feel to have this on our doorstep to enjoy whenever we want.

We have had a great time today watching the birds in the garden. We have a lot of permanent visitors now who take it in turns. There are a pair of robins who are almost always visible somewhere in the garden, a pair of blackbirds, a pair of great tits (possibly two pairs but we saw one feeding the other today) a blue tit, a small brown bird that we can't identify and an extremely overweight pigeon who appears to eat most of the day!

I have been catching up on challenges for Shimelle's crop today and have one more left to make so am quite proud of myself for - hopefully - doing all 16.

This is another which was to use up scraps from the other projects. It is another for our Austria album.

 and this was another challenge to use a printable by Little Mussings which was lovely and pastel and inspired this page.  The photo is my other god-daughter (I am blessed with two and love them both to bits)

I also have my photo of the day which is probably one of the most bizarre I will have this year.

There was a man - very nice as we stopped to talk to him - who was walking his pets on the beach. Nothing odd about that - we are still in the season when dogs are allowed on the beach. They were well behaved and stopped to be fed treats, even sitting down when told. They were are harnesses rather than leads and were ....

....

...

...

well

 

...

 

....

 

....

PIGS.

They were loevely but I have never seen anyone walk pigs on a harness along the beach before.

I asked if I could take a picture and they both sat for a treat. How cute was that.

 

A friend also flagged up this new place about to open (with lots of freebies on offer at the moment too)

Free to join and an incentive programme - so worth a check out

 

Creative Market

 

Today I am thankful for

• a lovely Saturday
• strawberries for lunch
• scrap time

and my one minute devotional calendar page today is

MYSTERIOUS WAYS
One night, I tucked my 21-month-old daughter, Julie, into her crib, kissed her on the forehead, and went to the living room to begin my usual routine: picking up the toys from the day’s play. I always put Julie’s favorite toys in her bedroom closet, keeping one of the sliding doors open so she could see her beloved dolly, “Mrs. Beasley,” when she woke up.

But as I turned to creep back out, something stopped me. Close the closet doors, a voice seemed to say. Close the closet doors. I’d never felt or heard anything like that before. It was too strong an urge to ignore. I made sure that the doors were tightly closed.

That night, I had a restless sleep. I dreamed Julie was calling out … Mommy! Daddy! I snapped awake. The alarm clock read 2:30 A.M. “Mommy,” I heard. I wasn’t dreaming anymore: Julie was calling out. I got out of bed and sluggishly headed down the hall. Why is it so hot in here?

Smoke! Coming from my baby’s bedroom. I ran down the hall, reached into the crib, and grabbed Julie. Gray smoke filled the room, but I didn’t see any flames. Carrying out our daughter, my husband and I fled out into the frigid Minnesota night and called 911 from my grandparents’ house down the street.

The next morning, I stared in horror at the burnt remains of our home. The fire chief expressed his condolences and handed me a copy of the fire report. I didn’t want to read it. What did it matter how the fire started? We’d lost everything, hadn’t we?

Not everything, I reminded myself. We had all survived. I read the report, finally stopping at the fire chief’s conclusion. “The fire began in either the electrical panel or the hot water heater,” he wrote. I gasped.

The location of both? The closet of Julie’s bedroom. The closet a voice had urged me to shut so tightly that night, holding back the fire just long enough to save my daughter’s life.

Father, thank You for protecting the treasures in my life that matter most.

—JONI WRIGHT

And the weekend is here

Whilst I love holidays I also subscribe to the belief that you don't appreciate the good if you don't have the bad. Now I don't mean work is bad - in fact I have had a lovely day ... a really productive and oft times funny day as children are such fun at times - but I do appreciate time off when I am working hard whereas when I am on holiday it's all just the same so you don't appreciate it so much.

Anyway - it is the weekend and whilst I have work to do it feels lovely to have a Saturday and a Sunday ahead.

I have new scrapping to share today. It is another page made with that awesome new kit by dawn Inskip that I flagged up yesterday .... breathless.

It is another page for my 50th trip album and is of the Valley Of Fire in Nevada.

 

 I have to share something that came in an e mail today - just the thing for a teacher on a Friday. They are hilarious.

 

 

Don't you just love them.

I have two pictures today. Yesterday's photo of the day was me on my exercise bike and wow - look how fast my feet go LOL

 

Today's is Nigel's choice. friday is cleaning day and the sink is absolutely sparkling. I fear he may be doing a fly lady!

 

 Today I am thankful for

• the innocence and humour of children
• Friday

And my one minute devotional today is

 

My eyes were barely open when I looked at the alarm clock. Who could be calling at 4:00 A.M.? My wife, Elba, reached over and picked up the phone. “Christine, are you all right?” she asked. It was our daughter calling from her college dorm in Miami.

“Why are you crying?” Elba asked. “What happened?”

There was a long pause, then Elba said, “Christine, it’s four in the morning. You ought to go to bed. Talk to your professor tomorrow.”

Elba paused to tell me what had happened: Christine had a mental block and couldn’t finish the term paper that was due that morning.

At first I was happy because it wasn’t a life-threatening situation, but then I became upset. How could Christine be calling us at this time of the morning? Didn’t she know that we needed our rest?

I lay back and tried to let go of my irritation, focusing on Elba’s voice instead. “You’re going to be fine,” she told Christine. “If you explain what happened, your professor will understand.”

How patient she is, I thought. It’s as if there’s nothing she’d rather be doing than listening to her child and helping her with her problem.

I turned over, and as I drifted back to sleep, I whispered a prayer for Christine, confident that God was listening. Even at 4:00 A.M.

Dear God, there’s never a wrong time to call out to You.

—PABLO DIAZ

 

Back to reality

School holidays are not reality are they. They are a lovely luxury but eventually they have to end and we are back to work and back to reality which, let's face it, for most of us means a full and hectic day of work. Even poor Nigel was back to work today and the garden looks fabulous and the outside paining looks good.

I obviously won't have the chance to scrap much now, but have lots of new pages I haven't shared yet and the first page I want to share today is another made for the weekend fun at Shimelles.

This was made for the challenge to use three different patterned papers from three different collections. See, this is where that trusty scrap box pays off. I am busily scrapping pictures of our trip to Bath and this is another for our 2012 album.

We love our miniatures and have a wonderful almost complete Georgian doll house which we both enjoy being creative with. Bath is a city filled with spectacular Georgian buildings and to us many of them were like dolls' houses.  In fact much of what we saw has inspired us with ideas for our dolls' house, including what to do with the basement garden we have not tackled yet.

The three different paper ranges were Basic Grey for the background, DCWV and then a third paper which I think was from a very old stack from Michaels years ago.

 

I have a photo of the day as well which is my new school bag.

These days I find I don't carry quite so much stuff too and from school every day as much of my evening work is electronic. So I fell in love with this bag in the holidays and figured it would make a nice school bag. It is smaller than I am used to but may mean I don't keep so much junk in there. It will still hold my planning file and an A4 file. It was from that very exclusive and expensive shop Primark!

 

Today I am thankful for

• useful work to do
• coming home

And my one minute devotional calendar page is wonderful - I did enjoy it today

The help-wanted ads leered at me. I’d sent out countless résumés to no avail. Still, every morning I prayed: “God, help me find a job that will make me smile.”

I saw one I never would have had the guts to apply for if I hadn’t been desperate. “Ordinary people wanted for a two-day fashion show in the shopping mall.” Hmm, I sure fill the bill on that one, I thought.

By the time I got there, I was quite hopeful. “The manager will see you right away,” the receptionist told me.

After that warm welcome, I was astonished when the man gave me a three-second glance and brusquely waved me away. “No,” he said, “you won’t do.” His head was already down reading his magazine.

Feeling sure I’d been led to answer his ad, I boldly asked, “Sir, may I ask why?” At his startled look, I plodded on, “Your ad did say you were looking for ordinary people.”

“Oh,” he exclaimed, “you got it wrong! We’re not looking for ordinary people. We’re looking for models who look like ordinary people!”

He went back to reading his magazine. And I? Well, I managed to stifle my laughter at the absurdity of the situation until I left his office. And on my way home, I passed a bookstore, went in, filled out an application, and have been happily employed there ever since!

When I’m down in the dumps, God, remind me that even there You can give me something to smile about.

—LINDA NEUKRUG

 

A little chilly out there

The weather is nothing if not variable in the UK - I guess that is why we talk about it so much. It is so diverse.

This time last week we were sat outside in the sunshine, tanning nicely. Today that chill was sure there with only 6 degrees on the gague and the heating back on.

We popped to Poole and I was pleased I managed to get something i had been searching for - a union jack t shirt. We are hosting another street party and I wanted something 'themed' to wear but knew I would probably only wear it that once so wanted something cheap and cheerful. Found just the thing in primark for £5 and also a pair of socks for Nigel. We are all set LOL.

 

I have been really sluggish today - quite content to just sit and chill and read and not do much else at all really. But then holidays are meant for that too, aren't they.

I must crack on with the weekly pages too. I have done week 10 and 11 but am now behind again. Here is week 10 - again very simple and graphic.

 

Today I am thankful for

• time to be lazy - we all need it once in a while
• sleeping with a fur baby
• enjoying the supermarket - because I don't have to do it very often it is great fun!

And rather than a LOL cat today, this is an e mail I received that tickled me!

 Qantas Airlines: Repair Division
> 
In case you need a laugh:
 Remember, it takes a college degree to fly a plane but only a high school diploma to fix one.

 After every flight, Qantas pilots fill out a form, called a 'Gripe Sheet' which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft.  The mechanics correct the problems; document their repairs on the form, and then pilots review the Gripe Sheets before the next flight.

Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humour.

 Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by Qantas' pilots  (marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by  maintenance engineers.

 By the way, Qantas is the only major airline that has never, ever, had 
an accident.

 
> P: Left inside main tyre almost needs replacement.
> S: Almost replaced left inside main tyre.
>
> P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
> S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.
>
> P: Something loose in cockpit.
> S: Something tightened in cockpit.
>
> P: Dead bugs on windshield.
> S: Live bugs on back-order.
>
> P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute
> descent.
> S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.
>
> P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
> S: Evidence removed..
>
> P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
> S: DME volume set to more believable level.
>
> P: Friction locks causes throttle levers to stick.
> S: That's what friction locks are for.
>
> P: IFF inoperative in OFF mode.
> S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.
>
> P: Suspected crack in windshield.
> S: Suspect you're right.
>
> P: Number 3 engine missing.
> S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.
>
> P: Aircraft handles funny.......... (I love this one!)
> S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.
>
> P: Target radar hums.
> S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.
>
> P: Mouse in cockpit.
> S: Cat installed.
>
> And the best one for last...................
> P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget
> pounding on something with a hammer.
> S: Took hammer away from midget.  

My one minute devotional today is

There was a picture of Dr. Steve and his family on a table in the exam room where I was waiting for my annual physical. When Steve arrived in his white lab coat to begin the exam, I asked him how his children were doing. I knew his four kids from church, but I didn’t know them well. As Steve thought about them, his expression was softened by that special smile that all fathers recognize, the smile that says, “Thank God our children are more than what they learn and inherit from us.”

Steve told me that he had come home late one evening when everyone but his youngest son, Matthew, was downstairs. Even with his limited awareness of his dad’s work, Matthew knew his father was having a really difficult time. Matthew didn’t understand what a doctor goes through when a young patient dies, but he knew that his father had been sad all week. When Matthew came downstairs, he was proudly wearing his dad’s much-too-large-for-him lab coat. “Look, Dad, I’m you!” Matthew said.

“That’s real cute, Matthew,” Steve said absentmindedly.

“No, Dad, you don’t understand. Let me be you for a while. If I’m you, then you don’t have to be!”

Dear God, may I have the compassion to carry the burdens of those I love.

—TIM WILLIAMS