Merry Christmas

It's getting very busy so I probably will not be blogging until the New Year. So a Merry Christmas to everyone and a massive

to all of you that comment here, you are a great encouragement and I've made so many wonderful inspiring friends over the year. Hope you all have a happy, healthy and creative 2010.

We are spending Christmas with family and this year instead of lots of present buying are competing in Charity Shop Challenge - we've all (adults only) bought each other presents from Charity shops. It's been hard but enjoyable and I think we'll have quite a laugh at what we've all come up with - I shall post pictures in the new year. Infact I've found so many nice things I shall be keeping some for myself . . . !

perfect day

Thanks to everyone for all your birthday wishes. I did have a wonderful time and the weather turned out to be the perfect English summer's day. Gra and I went to Charleston Farmhouse, the home of artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant. It is a magical place - I think they must have painted every available wall and furniture surface! We then had an evening of celebrations with my family in my brother's beautiful garden.

Don't forget to go over to Caroline's fascinating blog to get the new weekword.

Thanks - Day 7

Well it's the final day of a week of thanks which has taken me over 2 weeks to do.

During this time my Uncle has died, he was 86 and had not been well for a while, so in a way it was a blessing. I was very fond of him and have wonderful memories of time spent with him, he was a great joker who told the most elaborate stories and as children we loved these. To this day I do not know which ones were true. He told us his name was Clement Arthur Thomas Dean and it was only at his funeral yesterday that I was a hundred percent certain it was, as we always called him Dixie. He had a way of recounting things with a gleam in his eye as if to say "Well do you believe me or not?".

Yesterday was a day to give thanks for his life and to get together with family I have not seen for a while. Cousins with whom I spent a lot of time during childhood and teenage years and was very close to. It's odd with family even though we hadn't seen each other for ages, we immediately fell straight back into the closeness and camaraderie we had all those years ago and it was great to remember old times and catch up with the present.

Tomorrow Gray and I are going to 'The Spirit of Christmas' - a Christmas Extravaganza - not the sort of thing we would normally go to but some friends were keen and I know that we will have good fun in their company and we will make some more memories ...

This is thanks for all my family and friends... and my memories.

Thanks - Day 6

Many people moan about a rainy day. When you look through the window on a murky grey day it does seem miserable but when you get outside and that wonderful fresh smell hits you, then nothing could be better. Where would we be without the rain that helps our food and plants to grow and gives us water to drink.
© Photographer: Herve Leclair Agency: Dreamstime.com"

Thanks - Day 5

......................© Nicky Linzey 2005

I'd wanted a dog for ages but the time never seemed to be right. I realised I just had to do it or I'd never get one and had talked Gray into it - well sort of! I wanted a big black retriever/cross type dog and visited several dog's homes looking for the exact one - imagining it would be quite easy to find the perfect dog for me - I couldn’t have been more wrong and I was getting frustrated. However just as I stopped looking I found him.
..
It was a series of unplanned events that led to this happening. I was meeting a friend for a walk with her dogs and I was just about to leave when she rang to ask if I could pick her up. This meant I took a different route to normal and we drove past a dog sanctuary that I hadn’t noticed before. I jammed on the brakes nearly causing a catastrophe both inside and outside of the car and we went in. There was a £1 per person charge to see the dogs but we had no money with us, they let us in anyway – surprise, surprise! A kennel girl showed us around and told us the story of every dog, they were all very large - Alsatians, Rottweilers, Dobermans etc. Some sadly had been in their tiny concrete kennels for 7 years and could not now be re-homed, some were going to the army or police force to be trained as working dogs. Anyway as we were walking down the row of kennels I spotted this small, thin, white and ginger scruffy looking dog in another kennel block nothing like the big black dog I wanted. I don’t know why but I couldn’t take my eyes off him, he was standing on his back legs frantically trying to get out of his kennel. I had already stopped listening to the girl and now I interrupted her by saying “Is he up for re-homing?” He was … I went into his kennel to see him and he loved the attention, he was weeing with nerves and was desperate to get out. At that moment I knew this little terrier was the one for me, although I actually think I was the one who was picked! I had to wait an agonising 24 hours as somebody else had seen him before me and were interested - luckily for us the kennels rang to say they'd changed their minds and I took Gray to see him. The rest is history.

Looking back now on how this whole incident happened something strange occurred to me. About 6 months before we made the decision to get a dog, Gray's mum was very ill with cancer and was going into a hospice. We were in the car taking her there and she suddenly said “When you go to get your dog, I’m coming with you!” We were a bit taken aback as we had not talked about getting a dog - also she really was not well enough to do this. “Of course,” we said and it was never mentioned again as 3 months later she died. Going over the events that led me to find My Jack Russell it actually seemed that she had been with me – guiding me to kennels I had never noticed before and she had a preference for small white scruffy little dogs!

We've had My Jack Russell now for 8 years and he has given us so much pleasure - he is perfect even if he isn't big or black. I realise that if I'd waited for exactly the right time & exactly the right dog I'd still be waiting now!

Thanks - Day 3

Newly emerging acid green Spring leaves, hot blue Summer sky, warm Autumn colours, frosty Winter mornings.

My words are tied in one,

with the great mountains,

with the great rocks,

with the great trees.

In one with my body,

and my heart . . .

And you, day,

and you night!

All of you see me,

one with the World.

'Yokuts Ceremonial Chant'

Thanks - Day 2

"Listen to what you want

to do and don't worry

about the money"

Joseph Campbell

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Thanks today are for discovering the work of Joseph Campbell. My favourite book being 'The Hero's Journey' which I have read over and over again.

Thanks - Day 1

What a good idea Stephanie Roberts has had on her blog to give thanks everyday for the next seven days. We don't have Thanksgiving here in the UK however I'll do anything to keep Christmas at bay a little longer. I love it too - if only it would start on December 20th and end on December 26th! Anyway here is my first day of thanks:

Thanks that my brother was not injured after being involved in a serious car accident on Friday. Crashing head-on into a van that was travelling on the wrong side of the road, he only has cuts and bruises. The other driver is ok too.