Ouch!

On Thursday, Tim was away with a research group to some sites just south of Stonehaven. It was a scorcher, so he didn't have much clothes on ....... just a short-sleeved shirt and shorts.

And no SPF cream.

This is the result.


Not big and not clever - just very painful.

So children, let that be a lesson to you!

xxx

Attract

My honeysuckle is in full flower just now and if you go anywhere near it, all you can hear is a low droning noise. It's just covered with bees, bees and yet more bees!
Now, I'm very scared of bees, thus I won't go too close to the honeysuckle, but I want pictures of the bees, so I solved this dilemma by using my telephoto lens instead of the macro. It's great! I get to stand further away, but I can still zoom in close.

Simples! :-)

Only downside is that it's much more difficult to get a sharp shot, hence the slight blur in this one, which is my shot for the word of today - 'Attract'.

The honeysuckle also attracts hoverflies:


The flowers in the garden are looking mighty fine just now .....




My wonderful furry friends accompanied me.
Elvis needs no introduction!


Merry on the left, running to say hello to Star, who seldom ventures into the garden any more.

Star is getting more blind and deaf as the days go on and I do worry about her because she is so old. However, her appetite is still good for the moment, but when she shows signs of not being interested in eating, I think the time may then have come to say goodbye to my beautiful old lady.

Hope it isn't for some time yet though!

xxx

Been AWOL again

Things have been happening that have unsettled me and I haven't really felt like blogging, but I feel more like it today, so let's hope things are getting back to something like normality.

The word today is 'Hang' and these fit the bill:



The baskets have all filled out much more since these shots were taken last week. Can't wait till all the lobelia are trailing over the sides, in full flower!

I found dewdrops in my garden last week. They are so beautiful!



This spider's web was expecially lovely:


Believe it or not, we do actually get hot days in Scotland ....... but yesterday and today have been off the scale.

I'm melting.

Seriously.

xxx

Birthday Snapshots!

My lovely niece Amy is up from Kent on holiday, with her boyfriend Ainsley, and are staying with Jodie for a week. Yesterday was her 29th birthday and we went to the pub to celebrate!

Some decided to dress up, some didn't!

Jodie:


Grahame:


Ainsley and Amy:

Jodie:

Me (plus walking stick!), Kerry and Amy


I didn't have much to drink, so I'm feeling fine and dandy today, which is great because it's a lovely day and I wouldn't have wanted to miss it! :-)

xxx

How very odd it is .......

..... not to have an SPS to do today, or an SOS to do tomorrow. Feels like something is missing!

I expect I'll get used to it eventually.

So for breakfast today, I had three of these beauties:

Kerry gets eggs from a local farm and she gets half a dozen for me every week. Soooo much more tasty than supermarket eggs. Just look at the colour of that yolk!

I also had one of these for a light lunch:
Gotta love flapjacks!


The hire car finally arrived on Thursday afternoon. It's a Mazda and it's rather nice!




In my garden this morning, these were on display:

The white foxglove has finally developed little spots inside the cups.


The loosestrife flowers are opening.


The honeysuckle is coming along nicely. Can't wait till they're properly open in the evenings and so release their heavenly scent!


My niece is up from Kent on holiday at the moment and it's her birthday today, so we're going out to the pub tonight to celebrate!

Woohooooooo!

xxx

Sun? What Sun?

No sun here, I'm afraid. Wild and windy, but no sun.
But the word today over on HSMSHS, is 'sunglasses' and I don't own a single pair,so I had to go a'huntin' for Tim's.

My naughty sock monsters were desperate to model them.





Then finally, Tim had a chance to wear them!


Who suits them best? :-)


SO yesterday evening finally arrived when Tim and I went to see Cameron in 'Bugsy Malone'. It was brilliant! The whole cast were fabulous - especially Fat Sam. He's only 10 - the same age as Cameron - but he was great! Cameron was acting as Knuckles (Fat Sam's right-hand man) and he was wonderful!! The acting was great, the dancing was fab the singing was amazing, especially the 11 year old girl who acted as Blousy Brown. Her voice was so powerful!
The splurge guns and custard pies were so funny and the mess at the end was frightening!! Lol
For being such a small town, we really do have a wealth of talent waiting to be discovered.

Well done to everyone involved!

Especially Cameron! :-)

xxx

I've been Tagged!

I've been tagged by Liz

The rules are, you have to mention six unimportant things you love, link to the person who tagged you and then tag six further bloggers, not forgetting to let them know!

Here are mine ...
1. I love the sound of running water. I'd love a water feature in the garden but it always seems like too much hassle to get the electrics sorted!
2. I love reading, but never seem to have the time to do any nowadays.
3. I love men in hats (see my last blog entry!)
4. I love to sew costumes for our LARP games. Unfortunately, I'm so huge at the moment, patterns for costumes don't really go up to my size. :-(
5. I love photography and would love to be good enough at it to make a living from it.
6. I love sewing sock monsters and crocheting granny squares to make a throw.

Not very exciting, am I? Lol

Ok ...... now I tag:
Annette
Sharon
Eleanor
SuzyB
Maz
Fee

The word today over on HSMSHS, is 'Contemporary' and what could be more contemporary than a Wii!


If you remember, a few days ago the word was 'Engine' and I posted this image ....


Well - that car now looks like this .....


Ouch. Looks like it's going to be a write-off, but we're waiting for official word.


At least it's not raining today! :-)

xxx

Men in Hats!

I wish we lived back in the days when women were women and men wore hats. I love to see a man in a hat.

And by sheer coincidence (because 'hat' is the word today over on HSMSHS), I bought Tim a hat today! A dapper straw number, that he can wear when he's cutting the grass, or just relaxing in the garden.

This shot was taken in the house though!



This is what's happening in my garden today.

The loosestrife is just on the point of opening ...


... the first honeysuckle bud has opened ...


... and this beautifully coloured fly with irridescent body and wings took a rest on the spirea.



Life is so precious and could be snatched from you in the blink of an eye.
Tim was involved in a car accident yesterday on his way home from Uni. He was driving along a dual carriageway, when another car (a Lexus 4x4) drove straight out of a side road, right in front of him. He had no time to stop and the inevitable collision occurred. Thankfully, neither Tim nor the other chap was hurt, but both cars are extensively damaged.

The other driver has admitted full liability and we received a phonecall from his insurers confirming this. Tim's car is undrivable, so a recovery truck is fetching it today sometime and he'll get a hire car for the duration.

As I say, cars can be replaced, but life is oh, so precious and I'm just SO thankful that Tim is safe and sound.

xxx

Tea

It really is the cup that cheers. There's nothing like "a nice cup of tea". It cures all ills and makes you feel happier!

Well, sometimes ..........

I wish it would work on my grandson, Cameron. He is acting in our local theatrical group's production of 'Bugsy Malone', playing the part of Knuckles, one of Fat Sam's gang. Opening night is tomorrow (Tuesday) and wouldn't you know it, he's been struck down with sickness and diarrhoea. They've been rehearsing for months and we're all keeping our fingers crossed that he's ok to go the final rehearsal tonight.
Things like this are just SOOOO typical.

Poor Cameron. :-(

So 'Filter' is the word today over on HSMSHS and I thought this would be perfect:


It's slow going, but I'm getting there ........

It's going to be a bed throw and it's going to be twice this size, then I'll finish it off by crocheting in rounds till it's the size I want.

If I knew when I began it what I know now, I'd have made each square bigger - maybe 6ins square instead of 5ins.

But hey.

I like it anyway! :-)


Instead of flowers, I went in search of insects yesterday.




Nice! Lol

xxx

Showing Off

Tim and I and our friends had a lovely meal at the Chinese restaurant yesterday evening. Good food and good conversation are always a great combination. We had a quick drink in the pub afterwards, then went back to a friend's house for coffee.

It's SOS (Show-off Sunday) again over on HSMSHS and I'm shamelessly showing off another of the shots I took of Jodie last week!


It's grey and overcast again this morning. Where has the sun gone????

If you find it, please return to ............

:-)

xxx