yummmmmm....

i was inspired yesterday when i came across a very quick and easy, no-bake chocolate cheesecake recipe - vegan of course... so i had to make one (with a couple of minor changes) and this was the result... berries would have been a nice topping but i only had chocolate chips (and they only went on one piece - should have melted and then drizzled the chocolate over!!!) still, simple yet delicious - although i did have the munchies at the time so perhaps anything sweet would have been delicious...

my (slightly altered) recipe...

1 1/2 containers soy cream cheese (i used tofutti)

150g of dark dairy-free chocolate (i only had sweet william and only about half the required amount - and it's really only good for 'emergencies' - now a good quality raw dark chocolate would have made it richer - next time!!)

big slurp of dark agave syrup (i only had light syrup on hand but it's not as dense and full-flavoured)
approximately 8 plain biscuits (e.g. leda golden crunch or mcvities digestives)

3 tablespoons of nuttelex
cake tin or dish (in hindsight i should have lined this with baking paper!)

crush the biscuits until crumbs

mix the crumbs with the nuttelex until it all sticks together

pat down the crumb mixture on the bottom of the sandwich tin

place in freezer until finished next part of the recipe

for the filling:

place cream cheese in a mixing bowl

melt the chocolate and fold into cheese

add agave syrup
mix thoroughly

take the crust out of the freezer

pour the mixture into the sandwich tin

level out with spoon

put in fridge for 3 hours to set;

after set, top however you'd like and enjoy!!!

and no, allie and i haven't eaten it all - yet!!! for all her other elderly infirmities me old girl's sense of smell is amazing - that nose twitches away - then she's off the couch and on a mission - doesn't take her long to zoom in on her target!!! even shadow doesn't mind the filling (fuck the biscuit base he reckons though!!)

a 'decadent' day...

yay – i’ve got absolutely nothing planned today!!!

the weekend’s been quite busy… had to do some shopping for me mother on saturday morning 'cause she didn’t feel up to getting down the street – she’s having bad effects from one of the medications she’s been on - spiriva for her copd - chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – knocks her about for most of the day, and on reading the information that came with it apparently people with kidney disease and glaucoma maybe shouldn’t take it – she has both of those 'conditions' as well – way to go alfred hospital renal department – now that sounds competent!!! i spoke to her this morning though and she's rejigged when she takes this one until she goes for a check up next week and was feeling much better...

here's a photo of me mum with me brother at 5 months (big fucker wasn't he!! - i need to record my mother telling her story about his birth - it's priceless!!!) - that would make it june 1952... and i thought i'd 'throw in' one of her mum with their beautiful spaniel honey - that would have been in the very late 50s or early 60s because i remember honey and recognise the house in highett where they were living at the time - although it looks like there's another dog (that looks very much like my allie) on the verandah - but i don't remember them having 2 dogs at the one time...

talking of allie, my beautiful old incontinent girl keeps me busy – I’m forever mopping up piss and washing towels!!! a small ‘price’ really for her years of companionship, love and loyalty – but it can get you down sometimes – but there is only limited time for depression and self-pity – coming from a working-class background of battlers and survivors I learnt early that you just have to ‘pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get on with life' – until the next crisis anyway... and of course there's shadow too - he has needs and demands on my time as well!!!

the malmsbury mob came down saturday evening and stayed the night - it’s always pleasurable to have irene and the gang visit – i get to see my louie boy… we laughed, smoked and enjoyed the poodles antics…i made us a yummy pasta that we had with some beautiful sourdough bread...

the contract for the land is being signed this week so we’ll know when settlement will be at that point – either 30 or 60 days - and then we’ll be able to move ahead with the ‘retreat’ design and plans… we’re still ‘umm-ing and ahh-ing’ about which design and company to go with but i’m really excited about it - it’ll be new, and it’ll be my home!!!!

sunday morning meant a run over at the leash free park for the poodles – where we met montgomery the beautiful cinnamon coloured standard poodle – and did he love meeting up with the poodle pack – poodles just love other poodles no matter their size!!!! then we met and cried with another womon who had recently lost her old dog, her companion of 15 years, to cancer – but she had just rescued a wee little terrier cross so we shed a few tears of happiness for the lucky little girl!!! a weepy start to the day - you just never know what a walk to the park will unveil!!!

time for the gang to go home then and me to psyche myself up and get ready for work – at least I only had to go to AP so the shift was only 3 ¾ hours – and it turned out to be a nice cruisy shift this weekend (unlike last Sunday!!!) so we got pretty much all of the shelving done – now that doesn’t happen very often these days!!!

so here it is monday morning - i’m blogging, having a smoke and thinking about making some decadent chocolate truffles or rum balls (recipes below) before i relax with either a movie or a book – haven’t decided yet… but that’s not until after I do some ‘domestic shit’ - after that sheer decadence is the order of the day!!!

Decadent chocolate truffles

• 1 x 8 ounce container nondairy cream cheese
• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 3 cups nondairy semisweet or dark chocolate chips (or any high-quality chocolate), melted
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Ingredients for coating truffles (see below)

In the large bowl of a food processor, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add confectioners' sugar, 1 cup at a time, until well blended. Add melted chocolate and vanilla and stir until thoroughly combined.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or as long as overnight. The longer you refrigerate the batter, the easier it will be to roll into perfect balls. However, it will definitely require elbow grease to scoop them out.

Shape into 1-inch balls. Refrigerate again if the batter is too soft, especially if your kitchen is warm. Use a strong spoon or melon baller to create uniform sizes.

Once rolled, either send balls back to fridge or coat in any of the following:

• Finely ground nuts (pecans, hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds)
• Sifted cocoa powder
• Toasted or raw coconut
• Sifted confectioners' sugar

• To create a hard chocolate shell, refrigerate rolled truffle balls for at least 30 minutes (longer is fine, too). Melt some nondairy chocolate, either a good quality chocolate bar or chocolate chips, and dip each ball into the chocolate. Return to the refrigerator and let set for at least 1 hour.

Rum Balls

60g dairy-free margarine

2 tbsp treacle (i might use agave syrup)
60g brown sugar
1 tbsp cocoa
1 tbsp rum (or other liqueur)
2 tbsp almond meal
1 cup mixed chopped dates or fruits of choice
1 cup chopped mixed nuts


place margarine, treacle (or alternative) and sugar in saucepan and slowly bring to boil. Remove from heat and stir in remaining incredients. mix well, cool and roll into balls. roll in favourite coating.

nothing left to do but eat and enjoy!!!!

and here's an evening update...

it's 6.15 and this is a picture of the decadent chocolate truffles i made earlier this afternoon!!!

i halved the truffle recipe above, added chopped nuts to the mixture, rolled some in cocoa and some in crushed nuts - i got 14 truffles - they're decadent and oh so yummy - allie gives them the seal of approval too!!!!!

this'n'that...

had a very pleasant afternoon visit from larry the librarian on monday - we shared a bottle, some food, had a smoke together and caught up on each other's lives (i'd have more regular updates if you went back to your blog you 'turncoat' twitterer and facebooker!!!)

it was me mother's birthday on tuesday so it was a trip around to spend a bit of time with her... 'armed' with flowers, gifts and a bag of books from a friend (there's a library in the community room so once she's read them they go downstairs for the rest of the residents - all donations gratefully accepted!!) - it was only a short stay though because she get's really tired... she did ring the next evening to say what a thoroughly enjoyable time she had - doesn't take much these days - kidney disease is giving her a 'rough ride'... here's a few more early pics of her...

at a work ball with a friend approx. 1947

she can't remember the year this one was taken but the fashion was very WAAAF inspired...

taken around 1949...

i received an email from a friend on wednesday evening that led me to an article about smoking 'tailor-made' cigarettes that every vegan and vegetarian should know about...

"Cigs contain pig's blood, academic says. 

Cigarettes may contain traces of pig's blood, an Australian academic says with a warning that religious groups could find its undisclosed presence "very offensive"

University of Sydney Professor Simon Chapman points to recent Dutch research which identified 185 different industrial uses of a pig - including the use of its haemoglobin in cigarette filters." ... read more here

i was horrified... guess i'll have to think about a return to rolling my own ... i used to smoke rollies - champion ruby or drum menthol depending on how the mood took me... is there no end to the heinous uses humans will put anything animal to??

i came across a really good vegan recipe site yesterday - the post punk kitchen - i'll definitely be trying out some of the recipes from here...

i 'lashed out' and bought an ebook the other day - after seeing the beautiful pictures of the 71 recipes contained in the book (yeah, pics only on this site - you have to pay for the book before you get the recipes!!) - i just had to have it - they look mouth-watering...

"Gunter took up a Pastry Chef apprenticeship in 1971 and when he immigrated to Australia in 1987, he started his catering business “Gunter’s Gourmet Gateau” and later, “Gunter’s Cafe and Continental Cake Shop” on the South Coast of NSW.

In 1999 his dedication to a vegan diet inspired him to continue his passion for baking and adapting traditional recipes to his vegan lifestyle."

guess i might have to make something to take into work one day.... yeah, one day... until then i'll just drool over the pictures!!!!

i had a bit of a 'meltdown' at work on wednesday - allie had a wee regress - back to weeing in her sleep (that'll teach me for changing the lounge and bedroom around and don't i feel bad!!!!) - worry about her, judy and life in general got me really down, totally depressed and unable to cope with work on thursday (i had a wee regress too)...

but then Sailor Lily called in yesterday afternoon bearing some lovely treats to cheer me up - such a lovely thought... thanks Lil, the loving earth chocolate is quite delish and part of their philosophy is - "Conscious Consumerism : healthy - sustainable - fair - the 3 fundamental principles of Loving Earth and define the strict criteria, which we use to source and develop all of our products" - everything is vegan, gluten free and low GI... they're a melbourne based company that believes in fair trade and they work with indigenous communities here in australia and around the world... you can read more about them here...

okay, now i've spent some time blogging i might start reading jilliane hoffman's newest novel 'pretty little things' ... so enjoy one of the only things worthwhile from this christian (but once pagan Eostre) celebratory time... a 4-day long weekend!!!!!

genius, eccentric, or something darker??

j d salinger, author of "catcher in the rye" died this week, aged 91.

was he a good writer, an insightful visionary, a mesmerising storyteller? never having read, nor been inspired to even 'pick up' any of his works, I can't say...  some call  'catcher in the rye'  a classic in the teen angst / coming of age genre - it apparently typifies teenage alienation and rebellion in the 50s - but  salinger was 32  when he wrote 'catcher' in 1951 - hardly a teenager - and it was actually published for an adult audience...  apparently it still has a following (i suspect being on school curricula over the years has kept it in the public eye - along with its intermittent controversy) - looks like alienation and rebellion  are part of teenage cultures across the generations, regardless of the era - what a surprise...

so is it a classic or not? what 'makes' a classic? now that's subjective - i believe that, just like beauty, it's 'in the eye of the beholder', or should that be 'in the imagination of the reader'!

salinger had apparently been a recluse for the last 50-odd years... and from what i've read it appears he was a very dominating, controlling and manipulative personality who had a 'penchant'  for much younger girls / women - all the females in his life were years, some decades, his junior!!!

the following excerpts come from an article at  the daily mail online, entitled  "Why did J.D. Salinger spend the last 60 years hiding in a shed writing love notes to teenage girls?" by Anne de Courcy

"Along with this quest for total seclusion went a predilection for teenage girls - not so much a Lolita syndrome as an urge to discover innocence and then mould it to the shape he wished."

i can't find any age for his first wife but he was 26 - they met when he was sent to germany to interrogate nazis at the end of the war - "There, he fell in love with a girl called Sylvie - later believed to be a former Nazi official - whom he married and, after eight months, divorced."  he later described her as 'an evil woman who bewitched me'.

he was 34 when he met his second wife - "At a party, he met a young student, Claire Douglas, the 18-year-old half-sister of a British aristocrat.

Soon she moved in, and in 1955, when Claire was 20 and Salinger 36, they married. But as Salinger's desire for solitude increased, he made her burn all her papers and cut off all contact with her friends and family.

Claire, who had tried desperately to please him, found herself plunged into an isolation she had never sought. But when she became pregnant Salinger cut off all contact with the outside world and from the fourth month of her pregnancy, she saw no one whatsoever." Claire finally divorced him in 1967.

in 1972 "he saw a picture of a young writer, Joyce Maynard, on the cover of the New York Times Magazine with the headline An 18-Year- Old Looks Back On Life. Soon, Joyce was receiving fan letters from him.

Intrigued, she wrote back - and soon gave up her degree course at Yale University to live with him in New Hampshire - she was 19, he was 53." that relationship lasted 9 months.

in 1981, at 62 "he began a relationship with the 36-year-old actress Elaine Joyce, again initiated by letter. This lasted for several years, until he met Colleen O'Neill, the director of the annual town fair, who was 40 years his junior. They married in the late Eighties."

having 'fled the literary world in 1953', according to an article in the new york times "... Mr. Salinger’s privacy was punctured in 1998 and again in 2000 with the publication of memoirs by, first, Joyce Maynard ... and then his daughter, Margaret. Some critics complained that both women were trying to exploit and profit from their history with Mr. Salinger, and Mr. Salinger’s son, Matthew, wrote in a letter to The New York Observer that his sister had “a troubled mind,” and that he didn’t recognize the man portrayed in her account. Both books nevertheless added a creepy, Howard Hughesish element to the Salinger legend.

Mr. Salinger was controlling and sexually manipulative, Ms. Maynard wrote, and a health nut obsessed with homeopathic medicine and with his diet (frozen peas for breakfast, undercooked lamb burger for dinner). Ms. Salinger said that her father was pathologically self-centered and abusive toward her mother, and to the homeopathy and food fads she added a long list of other enthusiasms: Zen Buddhism, Vedanta Hinduism, Christian Science, Scientology and acupuncture. Mr. Salinger drank his own urine, she wrote, and sat for hours in an orgone box." (according to wikipedia you can also add an adherence to macrobiotics, the teachings of Edgar Cayce, fasting, vomiting to remove impurities, megadoses of Vitamin C, and "speaking in tongues" (or Charismatic glossolalia) to the list!)

i also found the article J D Salinger's women written by Paul Alexander (journalist and author of "Salinger: a biography") worth the read too... "The winsome, uncanny girls of Salinger’s fiction have real-life counterparts. They’ve always kept the secrets of this country’s most famous recluse. Till Joyce Maynard changed her mind."

and this?? it's an orgone box based on wilhelm reich's controversial 'orgone therapy' (also known as orgasmotherapy) - a wanker's wonderland? - you wouldn't want to be claustrophobic!!

it was popular amongst some of the 'beat generation' such as kerouac and burroughs too... hmmm... kerouac, born in 1922, died an alcoholic at 47 in 1969 - burroughs, born in 1914, was an opiate addict - "a condition that marked the last fifty years of his life" - he died in 1997...

were they radicals, or bohemians - maybe they were just hedonistic manipulators of the social change that was taking place?

so what do you think? was salinger genius, eccentric, or something much darker?

let's recap - manipulative, controlling, domineering - his obsession with and stalking of younger women was definitely disturbing - was he a pedophile? probably - did his writing 'imitate' his life then?

from an online magazine called secrets of the city "... there's an all too obvious theme of pedophilia in Salinger's work. You've got Holden's strange obsession with his younger sister. The most arresting scene in "Zooey" is when the title character looks out the window at a schoolgirl playing with her dog. Whatever plot "Bananafish" has is centered on Seymour's encounter with a young girl who's "wearing a canary-yellow two-piece bathing suit, one piece of which she would not actually be needing for another nine or ten years." In "For Esmé - With Love and Squalor," a soldier makes promises to a haughty thirteen-year-old girl whom he describes too often as a 'young woman.'

ohhh, and you'd have to agree that anyone who drinks their own piss, masturbates in a closet sized 'box' and 'speaks in tongues' is definitely somewhat odd, weird, strange - sick even!!!

i lean towards the 'something darker' concept - and  i'm far more inclined to read his daughter margaret's memoir  'dream  catcher'  or joyce maynard's 'at home in the world' than any of his books... 

 

i didn't mean this post to be so long or majorly about salinger... it was going to be about me dad... i was originally reflecting on salinger's age and pondering how close to that age my father would be if he'd still been alive, but then i did a bit of research about him out of curiosity, and you all know how absorbing that can be - it's been fascinating reading the articles i came across...

i recently read larry the librarian's post 'larry's dad' which made me think some more about my father and then i realised that january is the anniversary of his death - he died in 1976 in his mid-50s (my age now!!!), 3 months before my 21st birthday - took me a long time to forgive him for that one - but unfortunately there aren't many photos of him...

 

that's roy a couple of years before he died, and this is me in 1975 - just a few months before he died - with my niece rebbecca only a few months old - and yes, that's an 'afro' - that's what perms looked like in those days!!

you know, even after 34 years (he's been dead longer than i actually 'knew' him!!!) i still find myself missing him sometimes...

flashback...

reading Curvy Kitty's "a cautionary tale" about the 'art' of hair styling the other night took me back to the implements of torture young girls were subjected to in the 50s and early 60s...

mothers australia-wide (worldwide too probably) seemed to have this need for their daughters to look like shirley temple (who, incidentally, is a year older than my mother so i suspect it's a handed-down desire from my grandmother's generation)...

Shirley & friend (1940 perhaps)...

& me (1959 - so shy)...


but to get my straight locks looking like that it took lots of persuasion...

from the ancient heat-on-naked-flame curling iron (and it was very, very scary seeing that coming towards you - and my mother wasn't the most patient person so there was a lot of catching hair in tongs, and a lot of burning head, hair, ears and forehead!!!) ...

to tightly wrapped rags (and that was a process and a half - a lot of hair pulling - a lot of trepidation when you saw an old sheet being torn up!!!)...

with the torturous 'night-time curler agony' to come as i got older...

imagine sleeping with these things in your head... they were plastic, with little spiky ridges all along and around them - not pleasant at all!!!




oooh, i did sooooo love shirley temple movies though - especially the dance scenes with the likes of bill 'bojangles' robinson and george murphy in 'the little colonel', 'the littlest rebel', 'little miss broadway' - actually probably the only reason to watch a shirley temple movie (they were total propaganda after all) - hard to believe she's 81 now...

and here's some of those dance routines...

she bounces back...

just a quick update on Allie - it appears she may have (apart from old age) what's known as "estrogen responsive urinary incontinence" - very common in old spayed girls - and having once been a brood bitch in a puppy factory, and having had major surgery for a perineal hernia after her poor start to life, that no doubt makes her even more susceptible.

But after a real scare on thursday night, here she is today, checking out what's new in the courtyard - she might be blind and deaf, but she knows it's different somehow... it wasn't her time - this time... i can't help but wonder which one will outlive the other - me mum, or allie... they're both pretty much on par healthwise at the moment...

and here's the boy in his new 'outside house' - he's a 'gettin' into things' kinda boy, and there was no shelter for him in his 'yard' - so got me brother to take me to bunnings today - i could walk around there for hours - i was determined to find something for the boy and came across this pretty nifty piece of furniture - a timber rabbit hutch with a minor renovation... he loves it - maybe that's because he knows he'll never have to sleep outside in it... unless of course he doesn't come in before i have to go to work in the morning!!!

54... who woulda thought??

and you know you're getting old(er) when cards like this start turning up...

feeling very lazy... it's been a good birthday week... caught up with Sailor Lil on tuesday - she made a delicious lunch and we shared a bottle of wine (i had a tad more of it though!)... saw the wee baby Finn and Chris too - they're all doin' okay... just working out their own rhythm - takes a while - such major life change... it was a very enjoyable, companionable afternoon... had another delicious evening meal with Irene and Brann - indian from Kantipur restaurant - best indian i've had for a long time... got some beautiful gifts - don't mind aging at all...

have been scanning some photos this morning and 'playing around' with my first 70s post... trying to get the sequence of things right - not so easy 'these days'...

i definitely 'left' school somewhere around august 1970 - we were very much a working class family and my mother was determined i'd get a good office job before the end of the year when there'd be hordes of school-leavers looking for work - so she arranged an interview for me and i got my very first job as a receptionist - there were a lot of male employees - it was extremely intimidating, but totally exhilarating - after all, i had come straight from a very poor, catholic, all-girls school - holy redeemer (no redeeming went on there!!!)!!!

i was now 'out in the world' - i was earning money - i was 'almost' an adult - I was 15, going on 16 years of age and 'the world' was just opening up for me - it was the start of the 70s, and i was ready to experience 'adult' life!!!



oooh, got caught up 'thinking out loud' and spent more time than i meant to on this - it was just going to be a quick post about my birthday!!! so i need to go and do some other things, think about the past and leave you with this photo (circa 1970 according to me mum's dating, 1971 according to mine!) - anyway i was either 15 or 16 - and i was wearing the fashion of the day - the midi and maxi-skirts we back in vogue!!!! (bet you're sorry you can't see that!!!)

sorry about the quality of the scanned photo... we only had 'crude' technology in those days compared to now...



anyway, more soon... now i'm really taking Louie for his walk, while the old girl is crashed out...

feeling soooo old...

I tell ya, sleeping on a mattress on the floor these days is hard work... it's not as easy getting down that far, or up for that matter!!!! but at least when I sleep, I sleep more comfortably knowing me old girl hasn't got far to fall to the floor... I pretty much stayed awake at night before I dismantled the bed!!!!

I'm off for a couple of weeks now - I can spend some time with Allie and get to see what her quality of life is like now... she's still being cheeky - finding bones outside and trying to sneak them inside in her droopy old jowls!!! and having a wee dig in the garden... she's not as distressed now (nor am I!!!) and manages to find her way outside during the day... losing your sight (and not having sound to compensate) would be really freaky I would imagine... a really hard sense to learn to live without if you'd always had it...

anyway, here's some photos of 'the gang'...

I've been feeling really exhausted lately - mentally and physically - there's concern for me babe... and me mum (things to do on her 'illness front' next week)... work's been taking its toll on the mind and body - so much to do, so few who can 'perform all tasks', so those of us that can still 'do it all' (but for how long??? I have aches, pains and strains most of the time these days, and I'm pretty sure it's not all attributable to age!!!) - end up doing extra of the heavy shit and wear out quicker (I'm too old to wear out any quicker!!!!) - surely that proves we're understaffed - it at least means there needs to be a re-think about how 'incapacitated' workers duties are covered!!!

and of course there's still 'stuff' at home - the major impacting shit is the money... so now I'm going to do some recuperating myself... a bit of reading... maybe catch up with emails... have a choof... enjoy being with me gang and generally just relax.......

Public service sucks bigtime!!!!

well, makes you sick at the very least!!!! They're a sharing lot, the public - especially when it comes to their insidious little bugs!!! I've been 'laid low' for the last three days with a horrible gastric bug... I won't go into that though, suffice to say I felt like fucking crap!!! I guess there's a bit of stress happening too... me mum's just been 'officially' diagnosed in the later stage of chronic kidney disease - that's after 12 months of being ill since her not-very-successful, debilitating keyhole gall bladder surgery - part of the problem with her kidneys now!!! oooh, think there's a bit of anger there as well - we're talking about power of medical attorney stuff at the moment... she doesn't want dialysis at her age - guess I'm the one she trusts to enforce her decision if she can't - but I'll think about that tomorrow....

I received a postcard yesterday - you really have to wonder about the postal services... it was from my friend Steph who was travelling in Italia way back in june and july... dated 15/7/08!!! You have to wonder where it's been all that time - did it go on its own journey around the world?? was it sat in some mail house somewhere?? or was it just in a neighbours house waiting for them to re-direct it??

Anyway thought I'd share it - I was a tad taken aback at receiving something with the leader of that misogynistic, anti-gay, roman catholic church adorning it (and they're big on adornment!!!) - then realised it's coming up to that dreaded 'can't get away from christmas carols' time of year so thought advertising maybe - until I read it and realised who it was from...

(I found 2 different meanings for grande testa - big head or mighty loaf... both seem apt!!!)

and, on that note, I'm going to make the most of being out of bed, feeling better and seeing the lovely sunshine out there I think it's time to enjoy the garden - it's looking good - especially after the rain we've had - that's a wonderful sight and sound... we might not hear it too much more!!! It has been a pretty productive little patch this year - lots of spinach, parsley, coriander, onions, lettuce, carrots - there's something about being able to walk out the back and pick enough food if not for a meal, at least part of one... the tomatoes and beans are taking off, beetroot and zucchini have just been planted, the herbs are looking good - the grapefruit and peach tree are looking wonderful - can't wait to see what sort of peaches - everything just looks alive!!!!!

Here's a bit of a collage of parts of the backyard at the moment... if you look hard, you can just make out 'thereheis' in the bottle brush -you get a picture of Loudle (aka Louis and lots of other names) because he just happened to be in the yard at the time - of course there's no just sitting on the ground for a poodle!!!! and the old girl, well she was inside under the bed - that's another thing - she's doing a lot more lying around, sleeping... she's gettin' old.... a picture of her next time!!!

some good news (finally), and some bad news...

On the good news side:

I got an email from some friends the other evening - they've been trying to get pregnant for so very long... it's been hard, physically, emotionally and mentally - and finally they're going to be parents!!!!! Way to go Amanda and Chris!!!! The picture opposite is their ultrasound of "flipper" - their term not mine!! - I did get a laugh out of that though!!!!

Have a Baby Cocktail Mocktail for me (recipe instructions: 1 part Pineapple juice, 1 part Cream, mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker / stirrer and pour into an unusually shaped glass. Add Crushed Ice and decorations!)

being the 'connoisseur' of cocktails that one of them is, she might need this... "Margarita Mama - Mocktails for Moms-To-Be" - at least she can 'daydream'!!!! because now comes the readjustment... the changing of lifestyle... the excitement!!! (ohhhhh, but please don't ever lose the 'art' of conversation!!!! it can happen!!!) - and the responsibility... who could be bothered (oops, that's just a 53 year old talking - thinking about having a child around now!!! really, I don't have enough energy for me and what goes on in my life...) I am extremely happy for them though - and they're going to need that stamina!!! they're lovely people, and they'll be great parents... so much life experience, so much wisdom - oh, I should say they're 20-odd years younger than me hence so much enthusiasm and physical ability!!!!



And the bad news is:

I go back to work tomorrow - yuk!!!! I can't believe my two weeks off went so quickly... it was a really good break... just winding down... a nice few days away (me, Allie & Louie) - life's been pretty good since we've been back... unfortunately the burning question now is "why can't I win some money so I can be a woman of leisure permanently"??!!! Oh well, them's the breaks I guess... trouble with being working class... oooh, but what does work have in store for me????

and just for the hell of it (and because it's from the 60s):

I was going through some photos the other day and came across this one... me (the tallest - must have been the oldest too - I'm just not taller than others!!!!) and family friends. It's 1962 and I'm 7 years old - don't you just love the pom-poms on the top!!!! and that hairstyle - actually, it's not much different than how I wear my hear now at 53!!!! (a better style cut though now!!!) things really do go full circle!!!!

but now, because it's my last day off, I'm going to have some bongs and a lazy afternoon - well, lazy after doing all the 'domestics' that I've been slack with lately... and I'll be back with more soon...

Been so busy...

This was going to be the weekend I got right back into blogging... but guess what - worked Saturday afternoon, Sunday afternoon, busy Monday - it's just not happening - so it's just a quick post... well, a slideshow actually - had to put up some pictures of the new house (sorry, the application I used takes a while to load)... got holidays coming up from Wednesday week so I WILL be making up for the 'neglect' of my blog...

Make a Smilebox slideshow

#13 - Del.icio.us.... done - finally!!

You can tell the things I like playing around with... and it's certainly not the tools you have to read about... but I have done Del.icio.us... and just for something extra, here's another mosaic... Escher's work... I luv his stuff...

1. My creation, 2. escher1, 3. escher2, 4. escher3, 5. escher8, 6. escher4, 7. escher5, 8. escher7, 9. escher9, 10. escher10, 11. escher11, 12. escher13, 13. escher6

I can actually see the benefit of this tool... how many times have you been at home or work and thought what a perfect website you saved the other day, and how useful it would be NOW??? If only you could remember it... Your favourites accessible from anywhere - it makes sense.

Now on to Technorati.... more reading!!!!!! Can't wait to get to podcasts, video and audio (sounds more like my sort of thing... but that's a few processes away yet!!!)

Just for something different...

Another passion of mine....

my canine and feline companions.

HERSTORY:

This is my babe Allie… she started out life as a brood bitch in a puppy factory – after 4 years she 'd had so many litters she was too ill to breed from anymore - she was saved by SADS (Save-a-Dog Scheme) and then adopted by me. Then we discovered the girl had a perineal hernia and needed major surgery. But she survived!!!!

She was such a frightened little girl for a long time – the slightest noise sent her seeking ‘security’ under the bed – it took years for her to feel comfortable with people – but she’s 15 now – who would have thought??? Mind you, she is almost deaf, almost blind and has a problem with her weakened bladder (she just can’t hold on very long these days!!) but I have lived a much richer life because of her.

HISTORY:

My boy Shadow was only 4 weeks old when I first ‘met’ him. I was approached by a woman in the supermarket carpark asking if there was a pet shop around. Once I realised that she wanted to get rid of him, well, there’s not much more to say – I was only too happy to ‘take him off her hands’. And I think he was glad too!!!

He is a bit confused as to his name though – it’s evolved into “There-he-is” because you can’t help yourself, whenever you see him, your immediate response is “thereheis”!!!! He’s 5 now, street-smart, and very sassy.

Both created with fd's" Flickr Toys.

ANIMALS ARE FOR LIFE, NOT JUST FOR XMAS

PLEASE DON’T SUPPORT THE PUPPY AND KITTEN FACTORIES BY BUYING FROM PET SHOPS – CHECK OUT THE ANIMAL RESCUE AND SUPPORT SHELTERS – THERE ARE WAY TOO MANY BABES NEEDING ADOPTION.