Saturday 30 June 2012

Update on my Dad

It dawned on me that I haven't brought you up-to-date with my Dad's progress, sweetie~pies ~ and he is home now LOL

Dad went into the ICU on the Tuesday, after he had had his emergency operation.  He made good progress whilst he was in there and on the Sunday he was transferred up to the surgical ward.  He was allowed home on the Thursday and has continued to recover and heal well :-) 

Friday 29 June 2012

Vintage doll sale

The Looking to the Future plan continues, my loves ~ this time I have vintage dollies to show you!  I was getting a tad bored of the book-listing so decided to turn my attentions elsewhere for a little while ;-)

These little ladies are all in need of TLC to varying degrees.  I just don't have time right now to help all the poor little mites I have "rescued" over the years so I am hoping that they will go to loving homes, where their new mummy will give them all the attention they deserve :-)
As usual, if anything catches your eye just click on the photo and you should be taken to it in my ebay store:















Thursday 28 June 2012

Time....


....is flying by so quickly, my loves ~ here we are almost at the end of June already!

The pretty pyracantha blooms in the photo above are now finished but the bees loved them :-)  Hopefully there will be lots of gorgeous berries for the birds come winter.


This geranium is such a lovely colour.  It has settled down really well in this wooden planter.


This is the raised bed near our patio door ~ just look at that mass of foliage!  Methinks I shall have get in there and do a spot of snip, snip, snipping soon ;-)


Little baby apples, sweetie~pies ~ aren't they cute!  The tree was given to us by a neighbour, whose mother no longer wanted the bother of it.  I had placed it down near the bottom of our garden last year and it didn't do well at all.  When it kept being blown over in high winds, I decided to "temporarily" move it to this more sheltered corner between the raised bed and the house.  Despite it being rather shady here, it has done so much better this year and had really pretty blossom.  Hopefully we will have our very own homegrown apples later in the year :-)


And just look at this climbing rose ~ it has gone absolutely bonkers!  It quite obviously likes living in this spot, with it's feet in the shade and reaching up to the sunshine :-)  I took this photo just before I trimmed it back ~ it had got to the point where it was making life very difficult when trying to get into the hen house, not to mention slapping us in the face each time we wanted to get down to the bottom of the garden LOL


I, too, have had a session of snip, snip, snipping ;-)  Not the best photo in the world, my loves, but it really is surprisingly difficult to take a picture of oneself ~ well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

The Thursday Poem

Young Woman Reading by a Window - Delphin Enjolras

Love and Sleep

Lying asleep between the strokes of night
I saw my love lean over my sad bed,
Pale as the duskiest lily's leaf or head,
Smooth-skinned and dark, with bare throat made to bite,
Too wan for blushing and too warm for white,
But perfect-coloured without white or red.
And her lips opened amorously, and said -
I wist not what, saving one word - Delight.

And all her face was honey to my mouth,
And all her body pasture to mine eyes;
The long lithe arms and hotter hands than fire
The quivering flanks, hair smelling of the south,
The bright light feet, the splendid supple thighs
And glittering eyelids of my soul's desire.

Algernon Charles Swinburne
(5th April 1837 - 10th April 1909)

from the book: Poem for the Day One

Tuesday 26 June 2012

Where the Hell is Matt? 2012



John (Going Gently) shared this video on his blog and I just had to do likewise here, sweetie~pies!  I watched it and found myself smiling all the way through :-)

Book Sale cont...



Just to let you know, sweetie~pies.....I have started to list some books on my Amazon Marketplace store :-)  Clicking on the photo above should take you there :-)

Monday 25 June 2012

Start the week with a quote...

image from The Graphics Fairy



If you chase two rabbits,
you will not catch either one

Sunday 24 June 2012

Prayer for World Peace

Dove of Peace ~ Giclee print



We pray to the great Spiritual Power in which we live and move and have our being.
We pray that we may at all times keep our minds open to new ideas and shun dogma;
that we may grow in our understanding of the nature of all living beings and our connectedness with the natural world;
that we may become ever more filled with generosity of spirit and true compassion and love for all life;
that we may strive to heal the hurts that we have inflicted on nature and control our greed for material things, knowing that our actions are harming our natural world and the future of our children;
that we may value each and every human being for who he is, for who she is, reaching to the spirit that is within, knowing the power of each individual to change the world.

We pray for social justice, for the alleviation of the crippling poverty that condemns millions of people around the world to lives of misery - hungry, sick, and utterly without hope.
We pray for the children who are starving, who are condemned to homelessness, slave labour, prostitution, and especially for those forced to fight, to kill and torture even members of their own family.
We pray for the victims of violence and war, for those wounded in body and for those wounded in mind.
We pray for the multitudes of refugees, forced from their homes to alien places through war or through the utter destruction of their environment.

We pray for suffering animals everywhere, for an end to the pain caused by scientific experimentation, intensive farming, fur farming, shooting, trapping, training for entertainment, abusive pet owners, and all other forms of exploitation such as overloading and overworking pack animals, bull fighting, badger baiting, dog and cock fighting and so many more.

We pray for an end to cruelty, whether to humans or other animals, for an end to bullying, and torture in all its forms.
We pray that we may learn the peace that comes with forgiving and the strength we gain in loving;
that we may learn to take nothing for granted in this life;
that we may learn to see and understand with our hearts;
that we may learn to rejoice in our being.

We pray for these things with humility;
We pray because of the hope that is within us, and because of a faith in the ultimate triumph of the human spirit;
We pray because of our love for Creation, and because of our trust in God.
We pray, above all, for peace throughout the world.

prayer for world peace ~ dr jane goodall

Saturday 23 June 2012

You are beautiful...

Thursday 21 June 2012

The Thursday Poem

Young Woman Reading by a Window - Delphin Enjolras

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I amd the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Maya Angelou
(4th April 1928 - )

from the book: Poem for the Day One

Tuesday 19 June 2012

Faith is...

Monday 18 June 2012

Stuff...


image from http://www.sxc.hu/home

The Looking to the Future plan is really bringing home to me just how much stuff I have managed to accumulate in recent years! The 39 books I listed over the weekend (and those I have yet to do) are just the tip of an iceberg of rather massive proportions, my loves.  So far the majority have been craft-type books of one kind or another ~ bearing out the opinion of various family members and friends that I am like the proverbial butterfly, flitting from one thing to another but never staying long in one place!

I really think I should apologise in advance, sweetie~pies, for all this "advertising"!  You see, once I have ploughed my way through the books I shall have other, more general, "stuff" to list ~ various kinds of unused craft items, assorted knick-knacks and even possibly a few items of clothing (some never, others rarely, worn).  I do hope you won't all get too fed up with it all :-)

I guess there are all sorts of reasons why some of us have a tendancy to gather things around us.  Some folk are hoarders of the unfortunate kind seen on recent television programmes...some are pack-rats who like to keep things for that rainy day when they might come in useful...still others like their surroundings to be filled with lots of little bits 'n' bobs...some like just tidgy amount of clutter.  And, of course, there are those who simply can't abide anything extraneous in their surroundings whatsoever!

I rather think that I fall somewhere between the pack-rats and the liking-lots-of-clutter brigade but I also believe that there are deeper reasons for my "stuff"-gathering.  A friend has said to me on many occasions that it is my security blanket and I think she probably has a point.  I guess I have used the accumulating of material things to help blot out aspects of my life I have found difficult to deal with.

Still, the fact that I have been able to actually start to tackle all the things filling my home has shown me how far I have come.  I won't pretend that I have been finding it easy to part with things, my loves, even items that realistically I won't ever get round to using.  On the contrary, there have been moments when I have felt incredibly emotional, overwhelmed and close to tears.  But I have managed to give myself time to acknowledge those feelings and gently encourage myself move onwards once more.

My home will never be a minimalist's dream, sweetie~pies, nor do I want it to be.  I really do still love a lot of the things I have collected over the years ~ and I don't care for the "bare" look in the slightest.  But I suppose one has to know when to draw the line, when enough really should be enough lest we start to teeter on the edge of becoming an out-and-out hoarder :-)   

Start the week with a quote...

image from The Graphics Fairy



The way to love anything
is to realise that it may be lost

Sunday 17 June 2012

Book Sale cont...

More books listed in my ebay store today, sweetie~pies :-)  Just click on the photos and you should be taken to the appropriate page!






























Book Sale Part 2!

More books I have listed in my ebay store today, my loves :-)  Once again, just click on the photos and you should be taken to the appropriate page!

















Happy Father's Day...

image from The Graphics Fairy


...to all the Dads, Grandads and "father figures" ~ have a fab day, guys!