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

WEE RODNEY HAD NO BACK FEET

Here's Rodney!

Papa and I sat down to watch SUPERVET last night.  One of the patients was a wee Westie called Rodney who, as my title says, had no back feet.  The lady who brought Rodney in to see Noel, was from a charity that looks after animals who don't have a home. 

The lady wasn't sure what had happened to Rodney, whether he had been born that way or whether another dog had bitten off his wee feet when he was a very little puppy.  

The programme showed how difficult Rodney found it to walk.  He would sink to the next joint on his legs and try walking like that and sometimes he would even try walking just on his front legs.  SOMETHING HAD TO BE DONE!

Praise be for Dr Fitzpatrick.  He organised new prosthetics to be made and when wee Rodney was a bit older, he was operated on to have them fitted.

Here he is not long after the operation - the wee man!

He looks as though he's saying, "Look people!  If you have a problem with your feet, I can highly recommend Noel."

The final scene showed him walking with the lady and another dog.  You wouldn't have known he had anything wrong with his back feet.  He was running in and out of bushes, through puddles - having a wonderful time.

It was such a great story.  Perhaps you could Google it on Itunes and see the whole programme.

Love Nanxxx

TUESDAY MORNING 9.59AM

Hello my lovelies

We've been getting fabulous photographs through from Umbria.  What a wonderful place to be.  We also looked at the video.  I think you weren't long up and Daddy was making breakfast... 

 I can't believe it!  I had typed reems and reams and it's all disappeared except the first three sentences:(

Your weather looks so warm compared to here where it is very cool but sunny.  There are little signs of Spring though in the garden.  The snowdrops are popping up their wee heads, the jasmine is flowering and the magnolia in the corner of the front garden is in flower.  We also have some daffodils budding.

Wee Spotty Boy seems to be going well.  He occasionally limps to remind us he does have a sore leg, but on the whole, he is a lot better.  We give him painkillers in his dinner each day which I think helps.  Last night he was gazing longingly at the couch and obviously didn't feel he could jump up.  "Have you given Spot his medication?" I asked Papa.  I had been out when the dogs were fed and Papa had forgotten.  He jumped up, drew some of the medicine into a syringe and squirted it down his throat.  He wasn't impressed.

Molly Dolly is going well too although she needs a bath every other day.  I think it has something to do with her fur.  Spotty Boy wanders around with his beautiful, silky mane with not a leaf or burr to be seen, unlike his little sister Molly who walks around like a forest in the Autumn :)

Girls!  I have been looking very closely at your dresses.  They are beautiful.  Is your stripey one now your favourite Liliane?  Has the spotty one been thrown to the back of the cupboard?  There is a lovely Japanese lady who has written a book about tidying and folding clothes.  One of the things she says that when you are finished with a piece of clothing and you are about to throw it out or pass it on, you must look at it and thank it for the service it has given you.  Perhaps you could keep this in mind when you are ready to send it on to new pastures Liliane.

Freya!  One of the photographs I just loved was the one with you in your long white dress standing on a balcony like Juliette or perhaps a Roman goddess.  You looked gurgus gerl!

Yesterday, my Bible Study started up again after its three week winter break.  We are now studying the Holy Spirit.  Simone Clarke the minister's wife takes the study and she is just wonderful;  very gentle and very kind.

Here she is with her husband Andrew.  At the Bible Study she was telling us that Andrew has been studying Astrophysics.  How it came up was that at the beginning of the study, we were looking at the first verses in the Bible in Genesis and where God was and what he was doing when the world was created.  While we were discussing the seemingly contradictory views of God's creation, I mentioned the great mathematician, scientist and Christian John Lennox.  Simone mentioned that Andrew read quite a bit of John Lennox's work and then went on to talk about Andrew's studies.

And...for your viewing pleasure.  I can't remember where I saw this photograph.  It was on one of my blogs.  I've just remembered.  It's from posy gets cosy.  You've got a while to go yet, but perhaps you can start thinking about how you are going to decorate and organise your bedrooms when you get back to Australia.

Love Nanxxxx

THURSDAY MORNING 9.25AM

Hello my lovelies

Lovely day today although quite cool.  The main plan for the day is some lawn weeding but I'm going to leave it until after lunch when the grass should be much drier than it is at the moment.

We had a bit of an emergency with wee Spot a couple of days ago.  We have been noticing for a while now that he has had a bit of a limp at times.  Sometimes he seems alright and other times it looks as though he has a sore leg.  Anyway, on my way back from our afternoon walk around the blog, just as we were arriving home, he got a fright from the cat next door and jumped backwards.  He let out a yelp which I knew immediately indicated he was in pain.  I picked him up, came inside and called for Papa.  We both locked up the house, grabbed the car keys and head down to the vet.

We had to wait quite a long time as we hadn't made an appointment but we didn't mind as we could watch all the interesting dogs coming and going.  My favourite was the Bijon Frise which had come in with her two wee puppies.  You would have loved them girls!

After we were called in to see the Vet, he began examining Spot.  Spot was in quite a bit of pain and stuck his head under Papa's checked flannel shirt for comfort.  The outcome is that he dislocated his knee.  He is fine now, although he will be on pain killers for a few days.  We have decided to just take him for small walks for the time being, so Papa takes Molly and I take Spot.  I think Spot is rather liking it as I see this as HIS walk and allow him to lift his leg whenever he wants to and to sniff around posts twenty times if he so desires.

Mamma sent an email saying you will be ringing in the morning.  So looking forward to chatting and hearing how your wee trip to Montpellier went and your plans for Umbria.

Love Nanxxxx

COLD WEATHER, ZERUBBABEL, SPOT AND A BUS TRIP

Hello my lovelies

It's freezing here today.  I think it's around seven degrees but is supposed to reach around the nineteen degree mark sometime today before plunging again late afternoon.

Yesterday was my Bible Study up at the church where Simone, the minister's wife leads a weekly study.  I think I've already mentioned that we have been studying the books of Haggai and Zechariah this term.  We're just about finished them - two more weeks to go and then it's the end of term and something new to start studying next term.

It was quite a small group yesterday which was lovely as often when the group is small, folk aren't so shy about speaking out and sharing what they think or feel about particular passages we are studying and how these passages apply to our daily lives.

One of the people who features quite strongly in Zechariah is a fellow called Zerubbabel.  It looks as though names beginning with 'Z' were quite popular around that time!  Anyway, one of the encouragements  I received from the study was that we all face challenges in the life and work God has called us to do.  These may be major obstacles or doubt over our abilities.  God's encouragement to Zerubbabel also applies to us:  'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord.  God simply asks us to be faithful in whatever he calls us to do, big or small.  I think this is amazing.  It's not our own strength, our own abilities, our own knowledge, but by his Spirit.  We ask him to help us through our days and we trust Him to give us His power and His Spirit to do this.

Papa has gone off with wee Spotty to the vet.  While we were watching television last night I noticed he had a very sore foot.  He's obviously licked all the fur off over the past few days without us noticing.  While he's at the vet, Papa has also arranged for his fur to be trimmed near his bottom.  He has a gorgeous little skirt but it's not the best for toilet issues.

Here's an old photograph of Spot and Molly and wee Dougie peeping out behind Molly.

I'm just finishing off my breakfast and then I'm going to head into the bedroom to pack my wee suitcase for a bus trip down to Brisbane.  The dogs will not be happy.  The two of them plonk themselves on to the bed and watch with trepidation as each item is put into the suitcase.  Papa usually bundles them into the car when he drops me off at the bus station so they have a wee trip out to compensate.

Well must away and get myself organised.

Love Nanxxxx

A LOVE STORY IN EMERGENCY

Hello my lovelies

Mumma sent me some photographs of your brunch in the beautiful garden with Claire.  It looks as though you girls had a wonderful time creating a gorgeous hairstyle she might use for her wedding.  I just loved it.  I'll have to ask Mumma if I can put a photograph up on the blog of her hair.

It's a cloudless day again today and I have all the doors open, plus Papa's doors on to the side verandah.  I can hear him practising his guitar.  He has a lesson this afternoon at U3A.  Because he will be out for the afternoon, I am on kitchen duty and will make a lovely stew for tea tonight.

I was watching one of my favourite programmes on television last night - 24 Hours in Emergency. The programme is a documentary of 24 hours in the Emergency Department of St George's Hospital in London and apparently is one of the busiest emergency departments in the world.

What I most love about the programme is the stories the people tell, not only of how they injured themselves or became sick, but also the stories of their lives.  The camera jumps back and forward to speak to the person while they are in hospital, with the relatives and when they are back home again.

This particular story was about a very elderly gentleman, in his mid 80's who had come in by ambulance because of a very severe cough and difficulty breathing.  His wife came in the ambulance with him and you could see that she was quite a bit younger than her husband, probably my age.

Because of his age, the doctors didn't want to do anything invasive to his body such as putting in a drain - he had fluid in his lungs, so they decided to see if giving him some drugs would do the trick. He had previously been in hospital with the same thing some time before and the doctors wondered if perhaps the previous infection hadn't completely cleared up.

Time passed and it became obvious that the drugs weren't working and the man was becoming quite distressed with his breathing.  The doctors decided they would have to put in the drain but first they took the man's wife into the 'relatives' room to have a chat to her.  They wanted to know that if he took a sudden turn for the worse had her husband made any decision as to what he would want them to do.  Often with very elderly folk it is better to let them die peacefully than try and extend their life which might entail months of suffering before they die.

As you would imagine, his wife became very teary at having to make such a decision and said she would have to talk to her husband first.  As her husband was suffering from the early stages of Dementia and was therefore quite forgetful, she wasn't sure if he would understand her questions.

As it was he did and he said that if things didn't go according to plan, he didn't want major surgery. He wanted to be allowed to die peacefully.

When his wife went back to the doctor, still in tears, she said that she knew her husband's decision was him thinking of her and the burden he might be on her if the doctors continued trying to keep him alive.

As the camera was going back and forth, in one of its 'forths' when she is sitting at home after everything was over and talking about his illness and their relationship she talked about how she had met her husband.

Her husband was the friend of one of her brothers and one day, he asked her if he could walk her to school.  She said she didn't think anything of it, just someone walking her to school.  At this time she was nearly in her last year of high school.  As they were walking he said to her, "You know, you are just the sort of person I would like to marry."  and she said, "Well!  Why don't you ask me?"  And he did!

After they were married and no children were coming along, they decided to check things out with the doctor.  The doctor did some tests and told them the sad news that they would never have children of their own.

Not to be deterred, they adopted two beautiful African children, a little girl and a little boy and THEN when she was about forty and feeling a bit unwell, she discovered she was pregnant.  So in the end they had three children!

At the end of the programme, the camera zoomed in on her crocheting something for one of her grandchildren and there sitting beside her with a big smile on his face was her husband.  Three cheers for the doctors at St George's!

Here are some of the staff that appear on the programme.  You might be able to see a programme on You Tube.

Love Nanxxxx  PS  I love the different colours of their uniforms.

SUPERVET

Have you seen this programme - SUPERVET?  Papa and I watched a couple of episodes on SBS on Demand last night.

The Vet, Professor Noel Fitzpatrick runs a fantastic animal hospital in England.

He carries out major operations on animals that a lot of vets wouldn't even attempt to do.  Can you see this wee doggie has lost a foot and Noel has made a new one for him.  He's just amazing is Noel.

Perhaps you can find the programme on your television or perhaps on YouTube.

If you do find an episode to watch, make sure you have a tissue handy.

PHOTOGRAPH OF THE DAY, CONCERT AND WHAT I DIDN'T DO

This looks fun Liliane.  Beautiful skies, beautiful mountains and beautiful girl.

Papa and I headed down to Brisbane yesterday morning.  When we arrived, Auntie Emma and wee Fergus were at the door to welcome us.  Fergus was so excited and became even more excited when he saw the cardboard box Papa was carrying.  In it were lots of pieces of roads that Papa had made for Fergus to play his cars on.  Papa had painted the roads black so that they looked like bitumen and had also painted the white dashes on the road to distinguish the right and left for the cars to drive on. Fergus was thrilled and went upstairs to gather his big collection of cars together.

Once we had brought everything in from the car, we took the tracks and cars outside and had a cuppa sitting in Auntie Emma's beautiful garden.  All the work has been finished now and Auntie Emma is really pleased with the outcome.

After lunch, Papa and Auntie Emma went to a timber yard that her architect had recommended her to go to.  At the yard were various types of timber and one especially that Auntie Emma was to look at. Papa and Auntie Emma brought the samples of the timber home, much to Fergus' delight as he added the timber pieces to his 'road' collection.  The timber looked lovely.  It was a type of oak and had been finished in a 'distressed' look to look a bit like driftwood.  Very soft colour, almost grey.  Papa felt though that Auntie Emma could probably buy something a bit better and a lot cheaper elsewhere.  I can't remember where the discussion finished but I think Auntie Emma is going to continue looking at different timbers.  These timbers are for flooring upstairs in Auntie Emma and Uncle Michael's new house at Mt Coolum.

Through the week, Auntie Emma sent us three photographs her architect had sent her.  They are just amazing.  Even though the building of the house hasn't started yet, the architect was able to send computer images of what the house will look like and has even included furniture in the images too.

After Papa and Auntie Emma arrived home from the timber place, Auntie Emma and I headed off to have a look at bathroom stuff in a gorgeous bathroom shop quite near where she lives.  The bathroom stuff was just gorgeous and I went round with Auntie Emma saying "I don't like that!"  and "I don't like that!"  I think this worked quite well as I was able to say why I didn't like something and Auntie Emma was able to narrow down her choices.  It is so hard when you are faced with two thousand hand basins and you have to make a choice of one.

Then it was home, dinner and time to get ready for the concert.  Auntie Emma had bought a ticket for me too which was a surprise.  I thought it was going to be a musical night out for Papa and Auntie Emma.  The concert was held in the Concert Hall at Southbank.  As we drove alongside the river to Southbank, the city looked quite spectacular all lit up.  The bridges too were all lit up and the one I especially like which resembles sails was lit up in a rose colour.

Once parked and into the concert hall area, Auntie Emma and Papa went off to get a drink and once they had bought them, they found me again and we wandered outside.  "Oh!  Look at that lovely view!" I said as I was looking over a balcony.  Auntie Emma said "Turn around Mum!" which I did and there to my surprise was the city on the other side.  "Oh my goodness!" I said.  What a surprise it was.  So beautiful.

Auntie Emma had managed to get good seats for the concert and not long after we were settled, Eddi Reader came on stage with her entourage.  There were two guitarists, a bass player, an accordion player, and five young people from the Queensland National Orchestra;  three violinists, a cellist and a bass player.

Eddi Reader is an amazing singer.  Just wonderful!   Every song she sang was wonderful.  A couple of highlights though...

She lived part of her life in Maryhill which was a very poor part of Glasgow when she was a girl. She talked about parties her family would hold where they and their friends would get together.  There was obviously quite a bit of drinking and smoking at the time and Eddi did an impersonation of her mother whose name was Jean.  Jean was a really good singer and at some point in these parties, the family and friends would call on Jean to sing her favourite song.  Jean was always a bit reticent about singing and would only sing after she was cajoled by everyone.  So Eddi pretended to be her mother with a pretend cigarette in one hand and a pretend drink in the other.  We the audience had to pretend to be the family and friends and cajole her into singing a song.  It was hilarious.  "Go on Jean!" we all shouted.  "Nah!" said Jean as she smoked her imaginary cigarette.  Finally she said "Oh! alright then!", placed her pretend drink on the pretend sideboard, pulled her jumper up to her neck and started to sing Moon River occasionally taking a smoke from her cigarette while she sang.

Although it was very funny and her singing just beautiful, as I watched and listened I imagined that Eddi's mind and heart were full of wonderful memories of her mother.

Another highlight was the last song;  Auld Lang Syne.  Apparently Robert Burns only wrote two verses of this famous song.  He was not only a poet but a collector of poems and songs and other verses were from his collection.

Here's a link to Eddi Reader singing Auld Lang Syne at the opening of the Scottish Parliament.  The Queen at the end doesn't look too enthusiastic!

As you can imagine Eddi Reader would like to see Scotland as an independent nation.   "To put it simply", she says "England takes five pounds from us and gives us back three.  They have been doing that for over three hundred years, but what makes it worse is the fact they tell us how to spend that three pounds."

I think the present leader in Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon is going to ask again if the people of Scotland would like to be independent.

here she is singing another lovely song.

It was a great night.

Today after we drove home, I was supposed to go to my first garden club visit with my friend Carol. Unfortunately I was feeling really unwell with my tooth, headache, sore mouth, throat, and ear and telephoned Carol to cancel the visit.  I also telephoned the dentist and they asked me a few questions and told me to stop taking the Codeine/Paracetamol tablets, which I have.  I headed to bed and woke up around 1.00pm so had a lovely long sleep.

Hopefully I will feel a lot better tomorrow.  I have an appointment to see the dentist again on Monday and will cancel the appointment if I feel more improved by then.

Well my dears I shall away.  Looking forward to talking on Sunday.

xxxxNannyxxxx

LOT'S WIFE AND WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Still have a splitting headache from the extraction on Monday.  I can now open my mouth without too much pain and before going to bed peered in to have a look.  It was not pleasant.  There it sat all lonely like Lot's wife!  I already had a tooth removed some years ago on the one side of Mrs Lot and this week it was the other side's turn.  How long this woman is going to stand on her own I do not know.  Time will tell.  I will keep you both informed of any impending doom to her status.

Today I'm supposed to go to quilting at Carol's but as I'm not feeling terrific, I'm going to stay home and rest.

Loved the photograph of you and your Muma Liliane.  Are you enjoying being an 'only' child for a few days?  It will be lovely to hear how Freya has been going with THE GAME when you go home again.

Papa has taken himself off to his U3A this morning.  He is studying King Lear at the moment and seems to be enjoying it.  He cheats a bit in that his copy of the play has plain English on the one page and the Shakespearean language on the other.  This makes it much easier for him to understand what is going on.  It can be a bit difficult when you are reading Mr Shakespeare's plays but given time, you get used to the language.

I like his earring.

Did you know...The English language owes a great debt to Shakespeare. He invented over 1700 of our common words by changing nouns into verbs, changing verbs into adjectives, connecting words never before used together, adding prefixes and suffixes, and devising words wholly original.

If you click here you will see some of the words he invented.  He was a very clever man.

Well my dears I shall away and have some breakfast.

xxxxNanny  PS  Wonderful, wonderful rain.  We've had over four inches this week so far and more to come.  Woo! hoo!

RECOVERING AND QUILTING LAST WEDNESDAY

Hello my lovelies

I am well into recovery mode after my dentist appointment yesterday.   I didn't feel anything except quite a bit of pressure as it took a lot of huffing and puffing to get the tooth out.  Greg the dentist used his drill to break the tooth in two to try and make it easier for him to get it out.   I was very relieved when the whole process came to an end though.  He gave me a prescription for anti-biotics and pain killers.

I've been keeping both the drugs up but still feel a bit worse for wear :(  Papa has been taking good care of me though, making me poached eggs for breakfast and soup for lunch.

Keith down the road was very kind too.  He popped in this afternoon with a casserole which he said he has been cooking slowly for about four hours to make the meat and vegetables lovely and tender for me to eat.

Papa was busy this morning repairing a rocking chair for Robyn and Con and after he had repaired it, he took it around to their house.  When he arrived there, he could see Con up the street a bit, obviously walking home.  Papa waved and Con waved back but then Papa saw Con take a wee turn and stumble.  Papa rushed to Con's aid and helped him home.  Thankfully, it wasn't long before Robyn arrived. By the time Papa left, Con was looking a lot better but I think Robyn is going to take Con to the doctor's this afternoon.

I have a few photographs that I took at quilting last Wednesday.

Look at this one!  Leona has not long finished the top which is all made by hand.  She has used the paper piecing method to make this quilt in a similar way to the way I made my circles quilt.  As you can see, her 'pieces' are quite small hexagons.  Even the cream background is made up of hexagons.

Here's a close up.

Here's a link on how to do paper piecing.  Can you see how carefully Leona has cut out the pieces for the paper piecing?  If you look carefully at the purple pieces, you can see the 'flower' is seen in every second piece and the other pieces have been cut from the material and placed so they are all the same and are all travelling in the same direction.  What a lot of work.

Leona's work is going to be shown at the quilt show held in Fairholme in September.  What a treat it is going to be to see all her work displayed.

Kerrie K is making a cushion cover for her friend Nicola.  The crazy cover is going to be a cat.  I'll take a photograph for you when it is finished.  If you want to see Kerrie's stitching up close, click on the photograph.  Aren't her materials just gorgeous?

And here is what Carol is working on.  Carol has three small grand-daughters and I think she is going to make little pictures of the blocks for them.  I think!  I'll have to double-check on that one.

They're like the dresses from the film GONE WITH THE WIND.  I think these type of dresses are called 'crinolenes'.  I'm sure you would like one of these Liliane!

BIG congratulations Freya for winning the Felcitations award at school.  Well done!

xxxxNanny  PS  We've had lots of rain today.  Woke up to lots of thunder and rain and it looks as though we're about to get some more.  It's nearly 5.00pm here and it's getting quite dark.  I've dragged all the chairs at the front closer to the house to protect them and have also place my potted plants out in the lawn to get some fresh rain from the sky.