AUTUMN

Hello my lovelies!

Thought I would post some autumn photographs for you today.  As you can see, the sun has now moved to the north so we are getting some lovely sunshine on the side verandah.  I moved the carpet and the chair round from the back deck last week.

I took this photograph while sitting at the table on the front verandah.  Can you see the tree across the road - the pink one.  Well, that is a  golden rain tree.  It has fantastic yellow flowers in spring and what you see at this time of the year are the seeds.  I've got a feeling you can no longer buy these trees here as they are considered a pest.  It must be all those seeds - once they fall, I imagine they seed everywhere.

The tree on the other side of the verandah is one of the beautiful maples and as you can see, it hasn't put on its autumn coat yet. 

And...the camellia outside our bedroom window.  

And...some roses still blooming.  If you look closely, you will see buds still to flower.

This morning Papa and I were very busy around the place.  I hauled the ladders up from the shed, ran some hot water put some soapy stuff into a bucket, grabbed some cloths and set to and cleaned all the fans.  Now that we are well into autumn, I don't think we will be using them again until nearer the end of the year.

While I was doing that, Papa was outside putting finishing touches with his paintbrush to the front fence.  Over the course of the summer it had turned green with mould!  Through the week he's been busy washing it off with very special 'stuff' from BMS.  I'm hoping all the plants and grass nearby don't die.  Time will tell and I'll keep you informed.  The fence is all nice and white again.

Tomorrow, Papa and I are on 'tea duty' after church.  We haven't done this before so should be interesting.  We'll go up the hill a bit earlier than usual and set things up.  I've made a batch of shortbread to take with me.  

Did I tell you that Bob and Bev are coming to St David's now too.  It's lovely having them there and after the service they usually come back to our place for some morning tea.

Our minister Andrew usually sends through an email during the week saying what he is going to be preaching on and also what hymns we will be singing.   THIS is one of the hymns we will be listening to on the audio visual - we sometimes sing along as well.  We will be singing along with THIS one too.  I've just had a look at them and the words in the songs are beautiful.

Andrew has been preaching from the book of Mark for quite some time.  Tomorrow he's preaching on the healing of the blind man at Bethsaida written about in chapter 8.

Well my dears I shall away.  I've just taken wee Molly for a walk.  She's quite down at the moment; very quiet.  I think she's missing Spotty Boy.  I'm sure he won't be missing her as he's happy as long as he's getting attention!

Love Nanxxx

THE MAGICIAN AND THE PARROT

Hi there my loovlies!

Andrew our minister at church told this joke yesterday during the service.  I thought you might like to tell it to your friends.  It's very funny.

A magician on a cruise ship specialised in disappearing tricks.  Each day he was doing his best to entertain the passengers with his show.  And yet he was always interrupted by a parrot, and this parrot ruined every routine.  The bird could see what the illusionist was up to every time and would call out, "It's up his sleeve.  It's in his pocket.  It's behind his back."  and naturally the performer became very annoyed.

But then in the middle of one show, tragedy struck, and the ocean liner sank quickly.  In all the commotion and confusion, there were only two survivors - the magician and the parrot - together in a lifeboat.

For three days they sat and stared at each other in silence, and at last the parrot spoke.  It said, "Okay.  I give up.  What did you do with the ship?"

Love Nanxx

POT PLANT!

The ficus has reached the roof!

Love Nanxx

ENGAGEMENT ANNIVERSARY - 49 YEARS!

Papa didn't forget on Saturday!

Love Nanxx

COUSINS!

Top to bottom - Sinead, Finn, Oscar (in Papa's hat and glasses) and wee Emlyn who wasn't feeling the best.

Love Nanxx

A WEE CEILIDH

Hello my lovelies!

Here are a few photographs with some of the musical instruments out of their boxes.

Love Nanxxx

EMLYN'S FIVE!

Here we are preparing for Emlyn's birthday.

And...opening the presents...

Love Nanxx

JULIET

Here's a photograph of Juliet.  Can you see that her eyes are different?  She has a blue eye and a brown eye.  She's the most gorgeous dog.  She's five months old and just about fits on the palm of my hand.

As you can see her hair is long.  It's also really silky and soft.  She is a shih tzu x silky (I think?) - the shih tzu part is definitely correct.

Here's another photograph of her cuddling up to Spotty Boy.

As you can see, Spotty Boy was very patient with her - Molly not so much.  She took herself off under the table and turned her back on us all.

Love Nanxx

'S' FOR SINEAD

Hello my lovelies!

Here's a photograph of Sinead holding the beautiful cross-stitch.  I can't tell you how much she loved it.  It just took her breath away as it did with everyone else who hadn't already seen it.  And the letter showing how many countries it had been worked on was shown around to everyone.  I know she will treasure this gift from her Auntie Greer.

Love Nanxxx

THE JELLY GOT SPILT!

Hello my lovelies!

I couldn't find a photograph of 'spilt jelly' so I've had to make do with the unopened packet.

As the Kennedy cousins and their parents are arriving later today, I decided I would make some jelly to go with ice-cream for sweet tonight.  Strawberry jelly was duly made and carefully put in the fridge to set.

Papa came home with some shopping and as I was putting it away he said, "Would you like me to feed the dogs?"  

"Yes!" I said.  "That would be lovely."   Well, Papa went into the laundry, opened the cupoard and pulled out the dog dishes.  Into the dishes went the dry dog food.  Back into the kitchen where Papa opened the fridge and pulled out the dish holding the cold but definitely not set jelly.  He thought the dish was holding some leftovers for the dogs.  It went all over Papa, through the fridge, down the fridge doors, including the freezer and on to the floor.  

"Go outside and take off your clothes!" I said.  Papa didn't argue and I set to cleaning up the mess.  Every shelf was affected and even baskets holding stuff.  When I opened the freezer door more of the stuff poured into the freezer from where the jelly had spilled on to the edge of the door.  By the time I got to that lot, it had frozen!

Aaanywaaay...it's all cleaned up now.  We still have a bit of jelly left which we can divide between the children.  Adults will have to be left to cry.  No jelly for them!

Here's a photograph of the children on their way North.  I'm not sure if the little dog belongs to them.  When I got the photograph I wrote back to Uncle Aaron, "Are those children coming too!"

Love Nanxx

OLD FOTIES

Hello my lovelies!

I was going through my old foties and found this one.  I'm not sure if you've seen it before.  It's your Mama accompanying Uncle Louis.

Love Nanxx

A BIT ITCHY

Hello my lovelies!

This is our wonderful vet Rob McMaster.  I think the message he is sending here is that chocolates are a big no-no for dogs.  You will be very pleased to know that Papa and I didn't give Molly or Spotty Boy any Easter eggs last week.

However wee Molly hasn't been the best.  Biting her feet, her bottom (I know, I know :( - not very pleasant for her or us as we watch) and shaking her head a lot.  

So, yesterday I made an appointment to see Rob and it seems she need to have her glands squeezed near her bottom - something some dogs need quite regularly - Spot doesn't at all.  She also had ear infections and the paw thing was because of all the grasses that are out at the moment.  Poor wee lamb.  I felt so sorry for her.  She must have been so miserable.

Rob gave her a cortisone injection to calm things down and we now have antibiotics for her ears, drops for her ears and another tablet which I think may be like an anti-histamine.

This morning I gave her a wee bath with special shampoo which will calm her skin down.  

She is looking so much happier and I'm sure when she looks at me she is saying, "Thank you Mumma for taking such good care of me!"

Love Nanxxx

EASTER SUNDAY

Hello my lovelies!

How did your Easter Sunday go?  Here's the yummy chocolate cake I made.  It was yummy!

Love Nanxx