Dolly's Dreamings

It's summer

The weather is glorious - seriously glorious - and we have been making the most of it.

Yesterday we headed to Kingston lacy for a lovely walk. We couldn't believe it as we were the only people there for the first half an hour. I think maybe it was quieter as people thought it didn't open until 10.30 and also it is not a colourful time of year It was very green but there were no snowdrops or daffodils or camelias or rhodos and so it was - well green. The house looked fab with no one around though

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were going o go to another National Trust property an hour and a half away but as Kingston Lacy had just been green we decided not to and, as I am a water girl at heart, we had a lovely walk around Lymington, the coastal path, the salt marshes and the marina.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We planned a nice quiet afternoon but the nosepiece of my glasses broke and so we went into town to get it fixed and I did something I have been meaning to do for a long time - I ordered new glasses - two pair. My current glasses go back to 2016 so they have done well worn every day for pretty much 6 years.

 

I haven;t done a great deal of scrapping that I can share yet but I did make this little tag book 

 

This was made with a stunning template from Chunlin Designs

 

 

This was Today's offering

 

and this was yesterdays

 

and just because they are awesome - the BOYZ ... my tiny tired tigers

 

Not quite sure how Koda is comfortable like that

 

 

and look at those eyes

 

 

and that yawn

 

 

 

 

and those teeth!!  (and yes they are spotted inside their mouths too!

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a wonderful opticians
• days out
• sunshine
• our boyz

 

 

Bekonscot

We went for a day out today - we are going to try and do a day out each week as a little treat.

Today we headed to Berkshire and Bekonscot Model Railway and Village. It was a place Nigel went to often as a child and we have been once in 2016 but decided another trip was in order. We go because we love miniatures - hence the doll house of course - and Nigel loves model trains.

I think if we hadn't bought the tickets in advance we may have missed going as I really didn't feel well. we had a curry last night and it seems to have disagreed with me. But I coped and the village was very quiet and very pretty.

Way too many photos to go through but here are a few I have selected

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apologies for the photo overload and the fact I am way too tired to do anything else.

 

Today I am thankful for

• a lovely day out
• boyz to come home to

 

Take your wife to work day

Today turned out differently than planned. Nigel had to go to work in the Purbecks and so I cancelled art so I could go with him and help him and we had a fab fab time. The traffic was horrendous - a bank holiday week went he schools are off and people have just come out of lockdown is NOT the day to travel to the Isle of Purbeck really but heck. It was glorious weather and we did the jobs and had a fabulous time.

Note to self I do need to STOP taking pictures of Corfe now"!!

 

 

 

Our lunchtime picnic spot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In other news Koda is much better today. Bad day yesterday and we have no idea why. He didn't want to get out of his bed in the morning, half-heartedly ate his breakfast and threw it up - was very unhappy and quiet. By the evening he was fine and we have no idea what caused it. We felt so sorry for him.

New scrapping to share

Our timid little baby Koda

 

 

Me being daft

 

 

Koda again

Today I am thankful for

• Nigel having such lovely jobs
• Dorset
• Koda being well again

 

 

A little bit of normal

It is taking a  while but life is slowly slowly getting back to being a little tiny bit normal.

Yesterday we went for a walk to Longham Lakes which was lovely and then - shock of shocks - we went out to eat, to a restaurant. First time since September. We went to pizza express and went at 3.00 pm as we figured we would be the only ones as it was too late for lunch and too early for dinner. We were the only ones in their outside area. It was warm enough and oh my goodness the pizza was delicious. Let's be honest- it is just nice to have something you haven't cooked yourself.

I was going to take a photo as I was so excited but I was so excited when the food came I forgot!!! It was THAT good.

 

 

Then today we went to Lyme Regis - still in our own county. I have only been twice and so it felt new and like we were on holiday. We had a lovely walk and then - shock of shocks - we had lunch on the beach at a cafe - and yes - forgot to take that too!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The remains of dinner!!

 

 

 

 

and a little scrapping for ATDML using the new Vicki Boutin Colour Study which is way way brighter than I would normally use but I kind of like it

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• little bits of normal - for the first time this week we ate out (twice) and I didn't wash the shopping!
• beautiful places and perfect company
• Nigel getting his second jab tomorrow

 

Busy being out ... and news

I am struggling to be at home alone at the moment. We have never had a catless house and I miss Kira and Fiki so much, so I have been going out to work with Nigel. It is usual

Yesterday we were in Weymouth - just for a ten-minute job, but it afforded us a nice if blustery walk along the seafront at Weymouth, a town I love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today we worked in Ringwood and Christchurch briefly which did afford us a walk at Mudeford where the waves were wonderful to watch

 

 

 

We also have news to share - it has been terribly hard being catless - we are people who have a lot of love to give and we need fur babies to shower with love. Nothing will ever replace our beloved Kira and Fiki, just as they never replaced any of our other cats, but we do need babies to love and so whilst it has been a long time in the planning, these two will come to us next week to start their life with us in their furr-ever home.

 

 

yes they are absolutely adorable and we are already smitten.

 

Today I am thankful for

• Nigel being patient with me
• being by the ocean which always makes me feel better
• the kindness of friends
• new babies to love
• plans coming gradually to fruition

 

 

There was a strange light in the sky!

The weather has been grim lately and so today was a real joy. I had seen the forecast was

We headed out early to call in and get yet more food for Kira. I haven't updated on her recently but it has all been a bit of battle of late. The thyroid is under control but we were struggling to get her to eat. She seems unable to chew anymore - and we have had her teeth, tongue, throat etc all checked. So we have had to find a range of soft pate foods she will eat. That has been a challenge and she will eat something one day then not touch it the next. Add very spoilt to her list of conditions I think! We seem now to have a formula that works and she has anti-nausea meds as the kidney disease can make them nauseous too. In addition, she had dementia and I think she is having little fits too. She is often very disorientated and looks confused. It all sounds awful but she looks the picture of health, still purrs and plays and cuddles and so we think she is as good as she can be. We don't want any more treatment other than her routine meds. We just want her to be as happy as possible for as long as possible.

We then went for a lovely walk at Kingston Lacey in the sunshine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was beautiful and a lovely long walk.

Yesterday I painted a picture to make some Christmas cards

Card 1

Card 2

 

Today I am thankful for

• a wonderful reassuring vet
• every day we have with Kira
• a beautiful walk

 

A fair bit of scrapping

It's been quite a scrappy month this month and I am cracking on with both the annual album and the Coast to Coast (now running to 4 d rings as there was a lot to record on this holiday of a lifetime)

 

It's been great fun and I have also done a whole mess of fussy cutting, cutting up papers I would never use so I have bits I can add to pages.

 

This was fun and used fussy cut leaves - a lot!

 

 I also used coloured rub ons and my gold posca pen

 

 

 

This was a scrap squad sketch  I just loved.

 

 

This was for the pink week at For The Love of Pretty paper

 

 

 

We baked our Christmas cake yesterday - I do like a long time to be able to feed it brandy

 

 

 

 

Both the last one and this one use cut files from pear Tree Cut Files - her work is amazing and I am building up quite a collection

 

 

and we felt a mask picture just had to be done - it is sadly our way of life now

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• lovely scrappy times
• patience - it has been tested of late
• rainbows - you wouldn't have them without this seemingly endless rain

 

 

Just some great designs and adverts

 

 

 

 

 shared space done well

 

 

 

 

 

kick buttons on an elevator

 

 enabling you to see what ruins would have looked like

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In search of colour

The weather has been pretty bad with storms but we are missing our fix of the USA and being there  in he fall so we went in search of local colour today.

It was horrible and wet and windy (why WERE so many people walking in the forest - it was horrid just in the car!)

Anyway - at one point the rain stopped and there was even a bit of blue sky and so we took a few photos. Not New England colour but pretty nice. The sky was odd at one point as half was thick cloud and half was clear blue - like a line down the middle. But what was nice is that the rain meant the trunks and branches were very black which made for nice contrast.

 

However we were both surprised as the bracken was really really red in places - bracken always used to be brown ... this was a definite red.

 

 

 

 

You can see the line int he sky quite clearly on this one - to our left was dark and stormy and to right was lovely. Very odd.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and when we got home we were treated to a lovely rainbow.

 

and some of our recent jigsaws - they are all 1000 pieces and we are loving doing them

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a lovely drive out and seeing some fall colour
• a bit of blue sky
• simple pleasures

 

 

Delightful Dorset Days

Friday morning is often shopping day and so an early start. Today was such a day and Nigel left in the cold chill of a 5 degree morning and hunted for us. Actually, the weekly shop is small, even when we shop for an elderly lady int he street too, and so he was back early, shopping was washed (yes we are still ultra careful) and we were out by 9 am. We headed out into the Dorset countryside to a little place our neighbour told us about with a waterfall and lake. We were ill-prepared for the wet grass we had to meander through and so we spent the rest of the morning with wet feet (yes we were both in trainers but the mesh affords little protection) However wet feel was a small price to pay for the beautiful views.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then headed to West Bay and Golden cap for another walk and a lovely picnic bought from a little bakery there.  Picnic INSIDE the car - it was just a little too cold to be eating out and ... wet feet remember

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just another lovely morning.

Scrapping to share too

 

Kira - just posing so beautifully ... she has been an absolute gem these last 10 days.

 

 

This was for a challenge over at For The Love of Pretty paper (and talking of that ... I have news in a minute )

 

You had to use metal and so I ventured into my big box of metal bits and found letters and ribbon slides and words. The sculpture is one of our absolute favourites anywhere and is in our home town of Poole outside the RNLI headquarters and college .It moves us every single time we see it. It is a very powerful piece.

 

 

This was another challenge and falls into the 'it wasn't worth the effort' category. I spent ages embossing chipboard for an all white page which simply didn't happen

 

 

 

 

and forgive me - I can't remember if I shared this fiddly one either - lots and lots of cut and coloured leaves.

 

 

 

Now my FTLOPP news. I am so proud to be on the new admin team for the group. It is such a happy friendly group and everyone is so supportive so I am thrilled to be on the team.

 

Today I am thankful for

• a wonderful day out
• living in Dorset
• sunshine
• scrapping which has brought me so many friends, so many opportunities and a chance to give back

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrappy days and summer packed away

Life is still quiet here. Daily walks, lots of Kira cuddles and a fair bit of scrapping.

Today we officially packed away summer. We put our balcony furniture away for the winter which was a bit sad, but we have had a good innings this year being out there for months from early April. It has been a glorious summer for weather if not for anything else.

We ought to have been in America for the past two weeks - thank goodness we were not with all that happened with the cats - and today we would have left the many national parks behind for a few days in Vegas before continuing on wit Death Valley and Joshua Tree. I suspect a little warmer there than here!

 

I am still scrapping the Coast to Coast trip. It fills 4 d ring albums and I still have quite a lot more to do.

 

This page records the musical highway in New Mexico which, lets face it, had Nigel and Karen written all over it. We love a bit of the bizarre.

 

 

 

and this was a long afternoon driving through New Mexico and crossing the Rockies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

and this one was from the sculpture park. It is a phrase we use a lot - especially now - but to see this beautiful sculpture with the name was special. Gosh I would have loved to have bought that one - but it was a big 4 figure sum!

 

 

 

Today I am thankful that

• Kira seems more settled, more loving, and utterly adorable
• we are managing to cope with the loss of Fiki a little more every day but it is going to be a long process
• a tidy balcony
• scrap time

 and some beautiful doorways

 

Some better news and some scrapping and some photos

We had better news yesterday - my goodness we could do with that. After losing Fiki on Monday, Kira's health was still being watched. She started thyroid medication 27 days ago and we had her review. It meant blood tests, which we were worried about,  but the vet phoned us last night and the results were good. Her thyroid levels are down to normal and her bone marrow is fine but her kidney function is worse. We knew it would be, we were warned, but it was still important to medicate her. The downside of both thyroid issues and kidney issues - and we fear dementia is a factor too - is increased vocalisation. Now when you remember that Kira is already the most vocal cat most vets have ever heard, that means she is loud, very loud, and persistant. She can sit and howl and make the most piteous noises for ages and ages, multiple times a day. It is heartbreaking, though she doesn't seem distressed. She is, however, missing her brother and is very disorientated and she is seeing a lot of support from us as we are from her. The three of us are holding each other extra close. I am not sure how long we will have this little girl for, but we plan on cherishing every moment.

 

Scrapping - I did make a page about how much Kira has been supporting us with extra love using a  photo I took on Wednesday

 

and I made this page for a challenge on Pickleberrypop showcasing my beautiful boy (there will doubtless be many more)

 

On Monday, the day we lost Fiki, we had been out for the day. We had agonised over whether we should not have gone, beating ourselves up about it, but he wasn't bad when we left. He was the same as he had been for a week and so we thought it was OK. Even if we hadn't gone I don't think the scenario would have been any different, but we were upset about it and couldn't face even looking at the photos from what was a terrific experience.

 

Many of you will remember my dear friend Dawn Inskip. We have kept in touch with her lovely husband and daughter. Carly works at Herring Green Farm and the English School of Falconry and is now a very impressive bird handler and has so much knowledge it is amazing. She has hand reared many birds and has trained lots at the farm too. She invited Nigel and I up for the day - on her day off - so she could take us and her Dad for a day with the birds. It was wonderful to be with not only a lovely girl who we are very fond of but also such an expert. We had a fabulous time learning so much and we flew owls,a harris hawk and held eagles including a bald eagle. It was such a priviledge and such a lovely day. Dawn would be so very very proud of her - and of her husband the way he nurtures her. (And I like to think Dawn is playing with her little Fiki who she adored up there at Rainbow Bridge)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• getting through the past few days
• being married to a man who loves our fur kids as much as I do
• 17 wonderful years with our boy
• Kira's health check
• good friends like Paul and Carly
• days out