When I Say I Love You, You Say You Better, You Better, You Better, You: Vet.

By the time it was Monday, I decided that we had gone way past the point of Friday Food, and so we gave it a miss. I have an annoying small cold, and we've had a few days in bed. The weather has been blissfully cool in the evenings and nicely warm during the day. I am apparently doing an amazing and death-defying trick when I wear my Star Wars dress without a cardigan!!! I can't work out how to make the self-timer on my new camera work, so I shall have to rely on a real person to take a photo of my Equinox Cardigan for me. I am knitting a scarf. I'm using some Debbie Bliss Rialto Luxury Sock wool. It is a tad splitty, but is knitting up nicely as a scarf. I admit I threw caution to the wind and bought a simple pattern that I should have been able to work out for myself, but I have Puppy Brian Brain (sigh), so I gave myself leave to do it.

I cried off Sewing this last week of school, but I did buy six new Fat Quarters from Esme's for my Star BOM. Mrs Madcage bought me the four fabrics on the left from Central Australia and I just wanted some more. I need about fifteen Fat Quarters in all. The star blocks are all discrete so it doesn't matter that the greens are not all exactly matching. I like them, and that is all that matters.

Gilly and Hedy went to The Vet for Hedy to be vaccinated. Hedy Lamarr was extremely well behaved, and so pleased to see all the people everywhere. She had worn her collar, but we had not tried the lead, so there may have been some extra carrying. Hedy weighs 6.6kg and is just right. She has doubled her weight in the three weeks she has lived with us.

The Vet's garden is an excellent place for a wee and full of smells. Gilly was tired of waiting and ready to go home. She has her annoyed ears on.

Gilly's friend Rafa, and his mum and dad, gave Hedy a lovely toy to welcome her to our house. Hedy loves the toy which has eight rope ends and a squeak.

Lorelai Gilmore is ever patient and kind and teaches Hedy how to play.

And now I am sneezy and snuffly again. The cold isn't bad, but as I can't have any cold and/or flu tablets, it is most annoying. I waft about smelling of Vicks: which is not a delicate perfume!!!

I have felt well enough to read and I have a backlog of books to add to my sidebar. I've also lain sideways on the couch and started watching Star Trek: Enterprise. I barely remember any of it, and didn't ever see the last season, so it is a bit of a bonus all round.

I think I am making progress on answering my comments?? I was quite a way behind and I think I have to click through to the next page back.

All The Labradors are asleep, so I think it is time for a cup of Ginger and Lemon tea while I catch up on the ABC News.

Hat's The Name Of The Game

I am a bit chuffed with myself.

Every year I make MrsDrWho an Advent Calendar with 25 gifts. I have a few things on the go, Santas, and a Nativity, but because we are all going to The Star Wars:The Force Awakens in the middle of the night, which feels so wicked and decadent, I decided to knit her a hat- The Force Awakens Hat from The Ravelry. It is a free pattern, but I did not have much hope that I could do it. I am not very good at colour work, intarsia or fairisle, at all. Still, I decided I would give it a go. And lo, I have almost made a what I like to call acceptable hat.

My 'K' needs a little work and the 'S' disappears into the decorative border, and it needs a good wash and press, but I think it is OK!!  I took the picture with my Ipad so it is a little creamier than in real life. But, I can see the words and the ships and the storm trooper. I have just a few more rows to go and I have finished the decreases. Then there are the ends to sew in....... The pattern only calls for two colours at a time, and so I wound off a little ball of the secondary colour to make it easier to work with and I tried to make as many joins as I could at the place where I joined in the round at the start. Not too many considering.

My hamstring is good, but now as part of a Domino Effect I have hurt my medial ligament and my hip. Thank goodness for sensible friends who listen to me moan and then reassure me, in the face of my worries. Although my knee still aches, I can go down the steps in a normal walking fashion instead of each step, one at a time with a rest in between. And I still take Lorelai Gilmore for her walk.

Lorelai Gilmore so looks forward to her walk. She runs and plays with Rafa: here recreating The Creation of Adam with The Walking Man, who we meet on our walks.

Gilly runs so fast her ears don't know where to be and she blurs in the photo.

In good Labrador diet news, Gilly has gained health and lost 2 kg. It's been an up and down month for her. She has been burying and digging up her special bone again, she's not terribly good at it, and gets dirt up her nose. She snorts and sneezes, but it must be worth it.

Peri's Rose has been transplanted into a new pot in a safe part of the garden thanks to The GardyGardeners. It is blooming and beautiful.

I didn't mean to, and I didn't want to, but I ended up watching part one of Sarah Ferguson's series Hitting Home, about domestic violence. I couldn't watch some of it, it was just too terrible, and the other parts moved me to tears. It is frightening to think that two women a week have been killed by their partners, or ex partners, in Australia this year. Countless others and their children have been injured. I don't really know what to say, it is just awful. I have never smacked any of the dogs, and I don't believe smacking children works either. It is just a big person hurting a small person. I have smacked a child's hand out the way when they put the fork near the plugged in toaster, and I have lifted children out of the way or held them apart when there was a fight in the playground at school. Teachers are not meant to become involved, but you can't stand by as one child hurts another.

I am glad that the new blog design works. It gives me pause every time I look at it, because it is so different!! I just looked back to see my very first blog post ever. It was a Bravenet blog on the 10th September 2004, so I have been blogging for eleven years. I look at my list of blogs in the sidebar and only about 8/38 are still regularly blogging. Times change and people move on. I try to embrace change, although not always successfully. Trying new things is good, and I would never have made such a nice Star Wars hat if I had not mustered up my courage and started knitting.

Horton Hears A What??

Tonight was the final of Recipe to Riches, and here's my last review: Horton's Jangles, and before you ask, The Powers That Be preferred the name Jangles to spicy meat balls.

The box of frozen meatballs and a sweet chilli sauce was $6-99 for 400g. The pork and chicken spicy meatballs were delicious!! They heated in the oven for 10-15 minutes and then when drizzled with the sauce were a yummy treat. They would be a nice party food, on a cellophane decorated toothpick.

If you were pushed for time, these would be a great option.

 

The winner of the series was the Chocorn. My knitting friends really liked it. I wonder if they will buy it???

I have been buying felt. The BlackSpot of Doomlight(tm) had felt on sale for $5 a metre. I bought some wool felt at that price instead of $25 per metre. That was a great saving. I only went along because MrsDrWho wanted some felt for her Christmas Craft at school. Mine already has dog hairs on it.....

I made an interesting nacho bake for tea tonight. (I have fixed the link, I trust) It was delicious, I didn't add all of the kidney beans, but I rather liked the fact that I was able to use the spices in my cupboard, rather than a commercial taco spice mix. I added half a red chilli, but even then it wasn't too hot. The recipe says it serves four, but I think with some salad it would serve six easily.

Peri and Gilly were inspecting a car at the dam today. I wondered where they were and then, Boo!!: Gilly came around the corner and then Peri appeared!! The photos were taken from across the car park at the dam, so they aren't very sharp. I love the expression on Gilly's face, she looks surprised to see me, while Peri is just happy and unconcerned.

They did another circuit together before they certified the car as A-OK.

Peri has taken up residence at the fence again. She can spend all afternoon, lying in the Sun, with her chin resting on the horizontal bar at the bottom of the fence. She keeps and eye on everything that happens next door.

Though Peri watches, Gilly is the watch dog. When a delivery came from the garden centre to next door today, I went outside because I heard Gilly's Stranger Danger bark. As soon as I said it was OK, she stopped being on duty and had a nice drink from her outside bucket. It's her favourite tipple!!

Every year when Vundy and Tori's roses bloom, I remember that I should have replaced Harki's stolen roses. I must make a note in my diary, I am not sure when rose buying time is. Anyway, this year I have assigned Harki the beautiful fragrant apricot rose in the front garden. Their roses are the velvety red Mr Lincoln for Vundy, the gorgeous Peace for Tori and then Harki's stand-in rose.

I am so glad I took the rose photo yesterday because we are having a storm tonight. We've been warned to tie down outside furniture, and batten down the hatches until later on tomorrow, when there will be thunderstorms. Last Friday we had the coldest November day on record. Of course we are lucky to be here and not in The Philippines. I can't comprehend the death and destruction caused by the typhoon. I am glad Australia is sending money and expert help.

Christmas is coming, where did the year go?? I have to brush up on my construction skills so I can make Ungingerbread houses at school. In MrsDrWho's class small groups are assigned special activities and I am making houses.

The Lovely Andrea has started a blog. I am hoping you will post some photos of her craft soon!!!

I must find my torch as the power often goes off in electrical storms here, and make sure all the windows are tightly shut before we all go to bed. It's all quiet now, but the worst of the storm is expected at 4am.

I Love You, A Bushel And A Check (Up)

Thank you for all the lovely comments and emails about Peri. Everyone is so kind and I am glad to say that she is feeling so much better today. It is so lovely that friends are concerned about Peri and about me.

Peri went to see Doctor Tm at the Vet this morning. Her first check up went very well. He was surprised, again, at how healthy she is for a Labrador who is almost twelve. There was no fluid collecting inside her wounds and she is well on the way to recovery. So well, that she is now allowed to go for a walk on a lead!!

Yesterday she disappeared while I was having my cup of tea at breakfast and I found her at the top of the stairs in the sun. She played with a plastic cup and ate her food with gusto. She even hopped up on her favourite table and bathed in the sun.

Gilly checked up on her and gave her kisses and cleaned her eyes.

Doctor Tim started to ask if she was eating, and then realised he was talking about a Labrador and of course she was.

Gilly was at home howling and sulking so much that she didn't even eat her juicy meaty bone. It was still untouched when I came inside. She was beside herself with joy when I grabbed her collar and lead and she raced to the back gate.

Peri had a lovely walk and Gilly ran back and forth between Peri and me and everything she could sniff!!

I haven't been sleeping soundly, as every time a Labrador shifts on the end of the bed I wake up to check Peri isn't licking her stitches. I'm drinking double strength peppermint tea because I'm feeling a little woozy in the stomach, which is only to be expected!!

I felt the need for enchiladas today and so I used this recipe and made guacamole too, from scratch. I also baked a batch of scones and topped them with Ashgrove cream and my mum's raspberry jam.

I may have bought a new Amy Herzog cardigan pattern. It is called Dalriada and is 5ply and couldn't be more perfect. Here is the photo from The Ravelry. Click through to see all the details.

The second pattern is Prescott, and I have already bought four skeins of Cascade sock wool in Christmas Green from Purlwise. It arrived really quickly and the first skein wound up like a dream. I also have spot on tension!!! I took the photo with my iPad and uplaoded it to The Ravelry so it isn't the greatest detail. I love the colour and ordered enough to make long sleeves.

In the last few weeks four bloggers I read have decided to stop blogging, for now at least: two knitting and two sewing blogs. It makes me sad as I shan't keep up with them on The Facebook or Twitter. It makes me wonder about why I am still happily blogging after almost nine years. Wow, that's a long time. I think I have lots of things to post about: Labradors, friends, outings, knitting, sewing, embroidery, cooking, the weather just to name a few topics. When I left work I really missed contact with other people, especially my children at school. It was revelation to find other people on the internet who were interested in the same things I was, but perhaps their blogs were dedicated to just one thing, like sewing or knitting?

I think that even if no-one ever left a comment, I would still post to my blog, it is a record of my life for three-quarters of the time I have been ill and not at work. I can look back at the good times and bad. I can find that recipe I want to bake or the photo of Harki, or Vundy or Tori. I can search the books I've read and the things I've knitted and sewn. There are times when I don't blog very much and other times when I have so many things to write about I can't type fast enough.

Speaking of the weather, which I frequently am, we are expecting 17*C on Sunday, a veritable heatwave!! I may need to wear a dress.

Here are The Labradors, Rafa and two new dogs we met last week. Peri has her happy hackles up. Gilly and Rafa are in the middle of a chasing game.

More peppermint tea I think, and then to bed.

The Sixth Fence

"I see dread, people". 

Or as Split Enz (almost) sang: I see dread, I see dread, I see dre-ead.

Yes, there was dread in our hearts, we were afraid that the fence would fall over and/or The Labradors would escape. So Operation Fence commenced last Thursday with a kind next door neighbour. There was a lot of aerial whipper snippering. I am not sure of the names of pruning tools.

And then some sawing and a lot of bags of vegetation to be taken to the tip. And help from The Labradors who were banished inside when the electric tools were operating and then had to sniff double time to make up for it.

After a couple of hours the fence looked like this:

A  trip to the hardware shop and there is now lattice ready to be attached to make the fence more stable and escape-proof. The top of the old trellis has to be chainsawed off before we can proceed.

After that effort I have had to have quite a big rest over the weekend and, ergo, there has been a sock knitting fest.

I started a new pair of 8ply socks (Sake to Me) in Teal Patonyle. The wool is just so soft and snuggly. The second pair is in some hand-dyed 4ply and my own pattern to fit my foot: The Green Style socks.

All my Library book Holds are taking forever and so while I was idly browsing the shelves I found and borrowed The Knitter's Book of Socks.

I am quite taken with most of the sock patterns and so I have decided I will knit my way through all the socks without fair-isle or intarsia. I am trying new things and so I learned Judy's Modified Magic Cast On, and I am knitting toe up. The gusset increases are made in the sole, so is very interesting.

On Saturday I helped the Wool Shop lady with a double stitch heel. For me, this is much easier than a wrap and turn and now I am up to the heel turn before the flap I am using the double stitch instead of W&T because there are no holes!!!

I am going to knit the 8ply Stepping Stone socks next. This pattern is free and there's a link on the Ravelry page.

MrsDrwho and I have completed August's Craftsy Block of the Month block #2. Of course, even though I sew a very scant 1/4 inch my block is still too small. When all the blocks are completed we are going to sew a plain background border around all the squares and then cut them to the 12 1/2 inch size. I am beastly careless because when my quilt is finished it will be lain on by Labradors in a trice. And grubby ones at that!!

My mini garden has moved to a new higher Labrador-proof table and when I came out the back door this morning there was Miss Peri Pumpkin, sunbathing on the warm foam squares atop the little table. She was all warm and snuggly and had a lovely nap. I think she looks a little worried that she is being naughty by lying up there.

Miss Lorelai Gilmore, who does not have her Naughty Ears on, is standing near the other new lattice that contains The Forbidden Zone.

I am very unhappy with The Typepad at the moment. For perhaps a month I haven't been able to add any books to my side bar. The linky thing to Amazon is broken and all they can say is that it is a priority and that we should all become Amazon affiliates or something and use a widget. The very reason I pay for my blog to be hosted is that I am not computery enough to add widgets and be affiliated. I am reduced to scrabbling for my Library print outs and taking photos of my book covers. Now the Spell Check is broken. I thought I was doing something wrong for weeks as when I click the Spell Check button the incorrect words are highlighted momentarily and then the Spell Check turns itself off. Many people have complained about both these issues and the Typepad Satisfaction Staff ( and believe me I do think this could an oxymoron) ever so nicely say it is a priority and they are working on it, but nothing has happened. Typepad users are trapped because if they are sad un-computery people like me their blogs are pretty much held hostage because we don't have the skills to take our blogs somewhere else. One Satisfaction person offered me some free months of blogging, but I don't want money back or compensation. Shall I tell you what I want what I really, really want? I just want my blog, and all it's bits and bobs, to work the way it used to. I do not understand how things can just stop working all of a sudden when they have been working for years.

I have no recourse. Consumer Affairs would find it too difficult, or get no response from an overseas company. So I shall just keep replying to the Tickets I have opened, stating my case, albeit more crossly as time goes by, and hope that it might be fixed sometime soon.  I cannot recommend The Typepad to you right now. I am very disappointed, which is worse than being cross really.

Aung San Suu Chi visited the US last week and was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. She was given 2 minutes 9 seconds on the ABC News. A young footballer on an end of season trip to Las Vegas who was extremely inebriated and died while trying to jump from a hotel roof to a palm tree rated 2 minutes 5 seconds.  In fact his funeral was given greater coverage than that of an Armed Forces member who was killed in Afghanistan. It is very sad for his family, but I ask you what is the world coming to??

And now, here is The Magic Path. Gilly believes that when she walks back along the track to the gate Sandy the Labrador will appear. It is variable reinforcement, because sometimes she comes out the gate and he is there, and sometimes he isn't. She's positive that Sandy will be there and surges ahead, making Peri and I walk faster. Sandy wasn't there today. She saw some people getting into their car by the Look Out and after they went she ran like the wind just to see if Sandy was there. He wasn't.

Ahh, true love!!!

Scooby-Doo, Where Are Shoe??

Peri didn't sleep a wink on Tuesday night. In the afternoon she spent a lot of time lying on her back, but the weather was warm and humid and she likes exposing her belly to the cool air.

She was very restless, couldn't settle, and wanted to be in and out, in and out, all night. We were very worried the Pancreatitis might be back, because she couldn't get comfortable then either. So we locked Lorelai Gilmore inside and went to The Vet to see Dr Alison. She is such a lovely, gentle doctor and Peri loves her. Dr Alison discounted pancreatitis and said Peri is so slim she could feel her very small stomach and everything was fine. She checked for ticks, fleas, arthritis or joint pain and then spotted that Peri's skin was a tiny bit pink. Looking at her lying on her back photo, I can see that clearly now.

You can see Dr Alison really checking Peri"s spine carefully and Peri is wagging her tail like all get out!!  She gave her some low dose cortisone tablets and said she should start to feel better in an hour or so. And she did!! I was going out for a few hours and I felt quite happy to leave them both home. Peri slept like a log last night and I check her skin all the time to make sure it is still pale and she is happy!!! Dr Alison is so clever and we are so lucky to have so many good doctors and nurses at the vet.

Last night I went to Sewing. We don't actually sew any more, but in the olden days people made embroideries and cross stitches and did all sorts of fun things. Now we mainly have a glass of bubbly, some nibbles, and a jolly good chat - but I usually do some knitting. It's very relaxed and comfortable and I always take off my shoes.  The Renos have a lovely dog called Jubbly. He's a fluffy small dog, like a Pomeranian. When it was time to go home, I could only find one shoe, and much to my amusement and MrsReno's horror: Jubbly chewed my shoe!!!

That is the photo with the least Gilly. The shoe must smell of Jubbly's chewing and she was fascinated and wouldn't get her head out of the way. East or West.

These are the shoes I bought on The Ebay for $29-99 and MrsReno insisted I take some money and buy myself a new pair. She is very kind, I hope she has recovered and Jubbly isn't in the dog box!!!

Gilly and Peri are very slim. I have kind of lost the ability to judge. I thought Peri was putting weight on, but on the scales at the vet yesterday she was 29.9kg and I know Gilly is 23kg. Gilly is so very cute. I love looking at her funny expressions. I was asking her if the postman was here. Obviously it is night time, you stupid boy Pike she is thinking, and so the postman is not here!!!

There has been a bit of a cooking disaster this afternoon. I ended up emailing the Delicious magazine but there was no-one there. Still I soldiered on for my Friday Food.

Tonight I am going to sort out some of my embroidery threads and put them in my thread box. I was in an embroidery thread whirlwind when I was making the Star Trek Book. I don't mind the winding though, it's very therapeutic.

Some people have a Wordpress blog, and at the moment the entire Wordpress refuses to let me comment, whether I am logged in, or out, or in and out, or out and in. I am reduced to emailing tit-bits of comments because I usually forget to copy the comment and when I go back it has mysteriously disappeared.

Margaret Whitlam died on Saturday. I think The Whitlams were my first Federal political memory. She was a woman of substance in her own right and made a difference to people's lives. The It's Time ad makes me wistful for days of yore.....

Rondo The Twist

Have you read any Paul Jennings?  If you haven't he's very good, a kind of older children's Roald Dahl, the slightly scary and weird Roald Dahl!! Or, you can watch the DVDs, Round The Twist, also very good. I quite like Wunderpants, Santa Claws, Spaghetti Pig-Out and Little Squirt. His stories are wicked and slightly rude,sometimes scary but always riveting!! have been to a dinner where he spoke and read excerpts from his books.

I bought some Rondo, a 100% highly twisted wool, from Bendigo Woollen Mills. It is Lime Zest, it could be a little zestier for my taste, but it was only $10-50 a ball so I bought four. I am not sure what I will knit as yet. I found three balls of Classic 5ply in Poseidon I think. Maybe I will make Deco??

I have been knitting the nameless sock, I am almost to the heel. It is hard going in the dark blue Patonyle.

Peri and Gilly have special ritual games that must be played before they put their harnesses on to go for a ride in the Dog Car. The game is played this way: Gilly has a toy and Peri must try and take it from her.

There is much running, hiding, dodging, growling and general mayhem.

Sometimes I am standing there feeling as useful as a hip pocket on a singlet  while they have a lovely time playing. Still, once we are there, they trot along together as cute as can be.

I used more of the rosemary from Tuesday's recipe to make some roast potatoes. I finely chopped the rosemary, added some grated garlic and a little lemon zest, salt and pepper and oil and then roasted them at 220*C for about 45 minutes. Perfect!!

I have two new books. The first is a biography of Terry Nation, the man who invented the Daleks and wrote Blake's 7 and Survivors, and contributed to many more famous TV shows. I am really enjoying it and I am reading a chapter or two every night to make it last longer!! The other book is Nancy Bush's Vintage socks. Wow, so much information and so many patterns. I will definitely have to read it thoroughly before I decide to knit anything. Thank you MrsDrWho, excellent choices!!

What I did with my psychologist this week:

We looked at next week in my diary and I learned why I am feeling so tired and sometimes find it difficult to cope. I need to lower my expectations of what I can do. I do so many things, well too many, and I have to rationalise somewhere. I have DW dog walking, *blogging, light blue housework, red squares going to the supermarket or shop, green social interactions and yellow something else I can't remember!! Now I am feeling better mentally, I want to do the things I like, but I am more tired than usual. I looked at the week and saw Fridays are usually free and decided I would vacuum then: Wrong!! I should be having a rest them and trying to eliminate other things.

Maybe I can have the heavy non-perishable groceries delivered once a fortnight.

I could have my drugs posted to me from the hospital because there are NO parking places. Ever. It is worth paying $4 to have my drugs posted to me, rather than spend half an hour driving up and down the road looking for a parking place and becoming more and more frustrated and upset.

And maybe even have a box of fruit and vegetables delivered as well. Lots to think about, and I am going to work on a way of using a chart to help me plan my weeks more carefully.

If I have 10 'units' of energy each day for doing tasks or coping with things that happen, then my day might look like this:

• 2 units: dog walking
• 2 units: showering, getting dressed 
• 2 units: making breakfast for everyone and tidying up
• 4 units: talking to my mum

And there are none left for anything else. I did know this, but now I understand why an hour or so of sewing that requires concentration wears me out.

MrsDrWho has lent me her Wii and so I am relaxing with some yoga and deep breathing!!!

This is my 1000th Typepad post, but not my 1000th over all. I started blogging way back on 8th October 2004, so this is probably my 1100th post. I like to talk, even when it is written down!! I average a post every 2.5 days which is more frequent than I thought. I have found that having my blog, and interacting with other people and other bloggers, has stopped me feeling so isolated after I had to leave work. I spent every day of every week for forty weeks a year with my class, and I still miss it so much, miss the children and working with them, and them being My Class for the whole year.

Life is never what you expect, but there is always a silver lining and in our house it is Golden: The Labradors!!!

And if you've read all the way to the end here, you deserve a medal!!!

Glengarry Glen Cross

I had an Afternoon Of Crossness.

Crossness to Bear #1

In spite of all their Mastercheffiness, Sunbeam have not delivered good service at all. I have been waiting 43 days for the two beaters I ordered, when the nice man in the local shop said probably 8 days. I have popped in 3 times to see if the beaters have arrived. The fruit for the sideboard, however, was the 30 minutes I spent on the phone this afternoon waiting to talk to someone. The Lady kept saying  We'll try not to keep you waiting too long and reminding me of how important I was. I had decided that 30 minutes was my limit. I am not often cross, but I could feel the crossness rising up in me. 

I sent them an email in Bold and Red saying how cross I was about their poor service, their poor customer relations and I also might have suggested that they spend less money on sponsoring Masterchef and product placement and a little more on customer service. I said I would post, very crossly, to my blog because that was all I, one individual, could do to in response to a giant multinational company.

I am now saving up to buy another brand of mixer. There is no point in waiting around. I am moving on, but I just have to write it out loud to make myself feel better!!!

Crossness to Bear #2

I Dine Out with friends once a month, we've been doing this for a couple of years, yet today, I had to go to a part of the Country Club Casino here in our Island State and either leave my credit card number with them which I was not ready to do, or, after negotiation, leave $100 deposit in case we ladies, most of an almost certain age, did a runner. It was too late to re-arrange our evening. I registered my disappointment with the Receptionists and said I felt very uncomfortable and not at all welcome. We have dined out at the Casino proper and not had to leave a credit card number on booking, or a deposit. I shall be writing a letter of disappointment.

Now, Happiness, because I can't stay cross and life's too short to waste time feeling that way: my gloves work a treat and kept my hands so warm in zero degree weather!! I am embroidering my Garden Patch and The Labradors had a wonderfully muddy walk yesterday in the rain!!! We 'played' outside today sweeping wet leaves and other various dog toys like plastic cups into a pile, and then I used a little shovel to clean the mud and leaves off the steps. Gilly helped by bringing the shovel inside to play with it, mud and all. I swept the steps cleaner with some water and the outside broom.

Love and Happiness: Here is Peri in Full Flight. She looks ever so athletic and wonderful wild beasty!!!(Bodmin??)

Happiness and Love: Here's Gilly executing a similar move and you can just see Peri behind her. They both really run, run like the wind, at the dam.

More happiness, when my ISP sent me an email saying our area finally has ADSL2+. At last, broadband that is faster than dial up!! I will have 20 thingamabobs at the same price as my at the moment 5. And, when the new NBN fibre-to-the-home fibre optic cable eventually arrives, I can easily switch over to that if I want to. I have to have a new modem as mine is so old that it is not even on their list any more. I should be properly up and able to watch unmetered iView in 3-5 working days. Hurray!!

Even more happiness:Tomorrow I am meeting one of my imaginary internet friends, and I am very excited!!! We are going to have a cup of tea at the cafe on the corner!!!

The Hunt For Red Blogtober

I feel all 'My Way': And now, the end is here, And so I face the final curtain. Way back when, Bells suggested that I could actually succeed in the Blogtoberfest, I pooh-poohed her idea, but she was certain. So I joined and here I am, gentle reader, at the end of the fest. Thanks Bells, for knowing I could do it!!

It has been the best of fests, it has been the worst of fests: but now the fest is over. I'd love to pinch Bells' great collage idea, but really I can't choose one Labrador over the other and I'd need 93 pictures. Oh I'm just having a lemony drink with ice and I thought for one horrid moment I had another broken tooth, but it was just a piece of ice!!!

Peri hopped in the creek on our walk, but Harki finds it harder to jump out now, so she paddles in the shallower part of the creek upstream.

It has been unbearable hot all day, hot and humid. It was 28*C in the city. I bought a bag of ice, I hosed The Labradors and there was much playing in the paddle pool and lying in the shade. (Them not me!!) It was too hot to knit my socks or the scarf that needs to be finished by Wednesday. Quelle Horreur!!!

Lorelai Gilmore is quite confused by hot weather and ice. The former has suddenly appeared, and the latter suddenly disappears if you lick it. She's been mooching around because I had to hide her frisbee. Harki keeps finding a sudden playfulness and snatches it away. She's on a mission to chew it up, so I had to put it up high and away from everyone!!!

Halloween has come and gone with much upset in the neighbourhood. There was screaming and yelling and that set all the dogs in the street barking. They blew raspberries and 'boo-ed' in the front windows and upset The Labradors. I left a note that said I wasn't participating but I would defend to the death their right to 'celebrate' or words to that effect. They were not happy. Fences were jumped, gardens were run over, parents smiled indulgently. I shall draw a line under Halloween now.

I have unearthed my Easiyo Yoghurt maker and made my first batch for the year. In Winter I am all about the slow cooked rolled oats, but in Summer I like yoghurt and fruit for breakfast. I have some apples and raspberries to add to my morning yoghurt tomorrow!!!

I have not fulfilled all my Blogtober goals. I have not read all the Blogtober participants' blogs, computer circumstances beyond our control intervened, so I shall be doing some extra reading in November. Due to said circumstances there was not any scanning of photos, but now my computer is zoomingly fast there is some hope that will occur anon. I have cut out a pattern for a dress, and if it's cool tomorrow, I shall be tracing it and undertaking some adjustments!! So much for my goals. I have, however, found blogging every day quite good. Usually if I am feeling poorly I avoid blogging but I have really enjoyed posting everyday. I can't ever say I will do it again between now and next October, but I would like to blog more frequently. 

Since it's too hot to knit, I will have some peppermint tea and watch the end of Taggart and then to bed, where we hope it is cool enough to sleep.

Till next Blogtober then: thank you, thank you very much!!!

Oh and tomorrow there will be some form of Labrador Enhanced choosing of the 'Bespoke' skirt winner!!!

Normal Blogging Will Resume ASAP

We're having a few computer issues here, Back as soon as my Luddite mind can work out what's happening. Or what's not happening!!