The End of an Era 😢

Goodbye Beastie - It won't be the same here without you.

May 1999 - June 2022

(Yes, 23 lovely years)

Night night, my little fluffy man

Blue - Thank you for adopting us ♥♥♥

1998 - August 2016

Bye-bye Angel Puss

Tinkle - We'll miss you so much

May 1999 - May 2016

Sad

Sasha - Sleep well, little girl.

May 1999 - November 2014

Things that go munch in the night

We'd known for some time that we had a fox visiting our garden in the night.

He first came to our attention last December when he appeared a couple of time at dusk, helping himself to the crispies put out for the birds - "crispies" being the bits of batter that break off when you deep-fry fish. They are skimmed off and discarded, but our local chippie is good enough to save bags of them for us.

When we told them about our latest diner they started putting in the odd piece of fish and battered sausage - bits that had sat too long under the warmer - and these we left out for Foxy after dark. They were usually all gone by about 2 in the morning.

Naturally, the staff at the chippie hoped we'd have pictures... So we decided to treat ourselves to a trail camera, and were lucky enough to have success straight away.

That's a great lump of battered cod in his mouth. :-)

Yes, we'd known about the fox.

What we hadn't known about was this guy:

A European Badger - generally more placid than his North American cousin (unless threatened, then watch out!) and quite willing to visit peoples' gardens if food is on offer.

Chuffed to bits we were! We now put peanuts out as well as fish. Boy, does he love peanuts!

Here's a few more nice photos:

Peanuts! Nom, nom, nom...

What is that light?

Ah, and this is Blue, our outdoor cat. We get lots of shots of him and his little feline friends.

It's a Hard Life

Wake us when it's Summer

It's July.

It's 15 degrees outside, peeing with rain, has been all day, not expected to get any better for the foreseeable future.

This is what the girls think of it:

Boring Post

This is SSSS #7.

It's nice.

Haven't really got a lot more to say than that.

Gosh, this is a boring post.

Wanna see a picture of our new cat pen? No, not really, thank you?... Tough.



















Here it is before DH installed a few perching shelves. Access is through an open window in the utility room.

The girls have always been indoor cats. This was one of the requirements of the rescue centre we got them from and also the only practical option as we used to live upstairs in a block of maisonettes. When we moved here we promised them a pen so they could enjoy some fresh air and a spot of bird watching.

If you look closely you can see Beastie sitting on the (temporary) table and Tinkle mooching around on the ground at the back. The next morning I opened the window for them before I did anything else - now if I don't do it first thing, or dare to close it during the day, they kick up a fuss. On the other hand, it took Sasha 6 days to work up the nerve to go out in it, bless her little timid heart.

Show and Tell

Snowflake Monday again. I never did get around to making another SF last week and the one I did make is a repeat of one I made before so there's no point posting another picture. Instead, I'll treat (if I may use that word) you to a few other things I've made recently.

Here is the chart for the flower and the leaf pattern came from this doily at Craftown.










I really love this heart - chart here

Sorry, can't remember where I found this one.

This baby afghan was made for my new nephew, born just before Christmas (pattern here at Joann.com). Modelled by my lovely assistant Larry, who was bought from Hamley's for my 1st birthday. So he's also 40-something and his growler still works!

Naturally, Tinkle the camera-hog had to get in on the act again (seen here earlier). So before you think I only have the one cat:

L to R - Sasha, Beastie and Tinkle, cozying-up together in front of the radiator. Like the blinkie says, "I want my cat's life".

Making good use of my time

Baby afghan

Thread angels

Halloween scarf







Fancy cotton washcloth*







Fleece cat bed

In use (by Tinkle)

Hearts Doily







Patchwork block for a swap











Small linen doily*

Venetian Doily**

Grannie Square Angel

Turkey Butts

Flat Pineapple Angel
Yep, I've been busy. Now, back to work - byeeee.

*from Leisure Arts Big Book of Little Doilies
**spot the less-than-deliberate mistake