Iain has returned from visiting the hospital with good news. Nanna is now sitting up and although appearing a little confused earlier in the day she is now able to hold conversations, opening her eyes a little at a time, fully aware of what is going on and thankfully totally forgetful of all the horribleness of the past couple of days. She has no recollection of the fall either which is probably for the best. It is unlikely she will rib Papa about leaving her lying in the hall all night now!

Big sigh of relief and girding of the loins now for the return home and us doing a care-tag-team over the next few weeks.

Thank you to everyone who has offered support and sent their best wishes - all gratefully received I can assure you.

The Thing I Would Like

This is the one thing I have been excited about for the past while and which I have been dying to tell you.

The idea kinda all kicked off when we started to get the garden under control again and we dedicated one part of the garden to, what we laughingly refer to as The Allotment. You now know that I have brocolli, carrots, pumpkins and strawberries in that part with more carrots and brussel sprouts in seed there now too but there was still one small area of garden which was not going to be actively used and that bothered me.

A couple of Saturdays ago I delivered Jessica out to a friend’s house for a play date, literally in the back of beyond and in the 3 minutes I was there realised that I would love to have a less “building site” or developement” type garden. You know the type: a cul-de-sac of houses, backing on to another cul-de-sac of houses with a rectangular garden, times two, between neighbours. Jessica’s friend has low level walls built of stones and a lawn here and a smaller lawn over there and all very natural looking and some kind of peace about the landscaping. Yea, I know, I wouldn’t have the energy for theupkeep of such a place but dude - it would be fun trying huh?

I came back from that visit a little unsettled but still not knowing what I could put in the empty space. Then I received an excited phone call from my Uncle David - aren’t all phone calls from Uncle David excited? He had just ordered a weird thing called an Eglu and urged me to look up the web site that sells them and to look at the wonderfulness of the whole thing . .. This is a chicken run with attitude and he planned on getting 4 chickens to go in it too.

I caught his bug and started to think along the lines of *anything is possible* for a while, planning the garden around MY Eglu until reality took hold and I realised that there was no way I was going to be able to afford a new one and second hand Eglus are umm like umm hen’s teeth in this part of the world and although there are plenty in England through eBay they are all listed as Pick Up Only due to the sheer weight and size of them. Then I had a shift in thinking about a run and we headed off to B&Q to buy a shed which we will kit out as a coop and then build a run round that too.

So far we have the base in. We were supposed to have the whole shed built and in place last Sunday but the rain started and forgot to stop. At one point Iain insisted in continuing on with the laying of the blocks and I was determined not to leave him to it so Bailey and I sat under a large golf umbrella on a patio chair and encouraged him on to lay the blocks faster. When the rain got too heavy he joined us under the umbrella much to Bailey’s delight and got his face licked dry for his efforts. Iain - not Bailey.

We stood in the rain trying to work out the shed plans but as the paper got wetter our determination got damper and we gave up. We will finish it another day.

Since deciding to get chickens in the garden I have learned loads and done much research and know new technical words. I have been thinking ahead and am so obsessed with the idea have actually gone to the window at night to make sure *the girls* have been put to bed for the night and have on more than one occasion asked the kids if anyone has let the chickens out yet in the morning. I hate buying eggs now - preferring to wait for the FREE ones when they start arriving and am getting such a kick out of the whole *eating free food from my own garden* malarkey.

I even went to the fishing tackle shop last week and bought a pint of maggots for them, got home and THEN realised WE. DON’T. HAVE. CHICKENS.YET!

Today we ordered the wire for the run and I even ordered some special food which will create less-stinky poo which is better for the garden. I have even ordered 2 new compost bins from the council! And yes, I have names shortlisted. This may surprise you when you remember that neither of my children were named for three weeks after they were born!

It has been fun! I joined the Omlet forum and have found the people there to be really nice and full of advice. I have no doubt that they will keep me right when the chickens finally arrive. That may not be for a while though - can’t have them arriving before the run is ready - can’t have the foxes having Chicken Tonight!

I am thinking that the final part of my Reader Interactive Task will be tomorrow now - am too tired to add much more this evening. I have had a couple of sweet replies to my plea for things that you like about me so thanks for those

You like my Thing I Would Like? Would you like regular updates? You want photos? This is a good thing to want - yes? You are jealous - yes?

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?

Tags: Chickens, Memes, General

It seems strange to be blogging about trivial things while we are waiting for news from the hospital - but I may as well keep my mind active. Have been sitting here all day staring at one screen or another and need to do something!

Iain was at the hospital this afternoon - Nanna was moved to the Belfast one last night - and Aunty Lesley, Papa and Iain all went down this afternoon to visit and talk to doctors. There is nothing good to report. She is no better and if anything, slightly worse, or so Iain reckons anyway.

UPDATE: We all went down to the hospital this evening to support Papa. Things aren’t any better and at one point looked very dismal indeed. I don’t really want to go in to all the details just now. At the end of the visit the doctor came and reassured us that they aren’t too worried about her and are happy that she is stable - so we have to go with that in the meantime. I’ll keep you posted.

Anyway. The Thing I Dislike. It has been hard to narrow it down to one thing as you can probably imagine. I have been known to rant a tad in the past. The other evening as we were driving through the village on the way home I spotted something that made me cross and decided that was the one thing that has annoyed me enough to speak up about it.

The Eleventh Night Bonfire.

*begins rant*

Many of my readers will not be familiar with the phenonemon that is The Eleventh Night or even The Twelfth which takes place here every year. This is not me being either political OR religious - this is me giving off about the absolute waste of wood and tyres and the environmental cost to the the world through wanton destruction usually at the hands of youngsters.

It used to be that wee lads would knock on the doors asking for any old wood that you no longer needed - now a days it looks like a haulage yard at these sites with literally thousands of reusable pallets being stacked layer upon layer in the name of a good bonfire.

Being a good Freecycle user I ITCHED to approach the village site to rummage through the wood there to see if there was anything I could use in the garden but there are usually 2 or 3 wee lads hanging about the place making sure that no one lights the fire early. (This first photo is the local bonfire. No people at it when we passed it but they left their armchair behind!)

There are loads of fence panels, scaffold planks and just general usable and shouldn’t-be-burned-in-a-bonfire items there. Thankfully our site doesn’t seem to have any tyres on display but I know for a fact that the youngsters have relieved local builders and haulage firms of their pallets in the past.

I hate to see the waste. I dislike the waste. I dislike the mess before and after. The same people who build the bonfire don’t seem to be on hand to tidy up afterwards.

This second photo is of ONE of the TWO sites in ONE estate in Lisburn. I can’t even begin to count the pallets there - the bonfire is circular and has many layers of pallets - and this is just one fire - the other is sever hundred yards away! WT?

I really do believe there ought to be a size restriction to these things and for there to be a proper licence to have one with named volunteers to help tidy up. Wikipedia correctly says that:

Eleventh night

The night before the Twelfth sees enormous bonfires lit in working class Protestant districts. These are alternately seen as friendly community get-togethers or occasions for drunkenness and violence, depending on time, place and personal viewpoint. A recent criticism of the bonfires is that much of what is burnt (especially tires) causes serious environmental pollution. In the past the fires were lit on intersections but damage to nearby houses and to the street itself meant that most areas now have an area of waste ground set aside for the purpose.

That’s it. Was that good enough as The Dislike item? I know what I am going to tell you for the next one but am still drawing a blank on the Something Someone Likes About Me one - so far it has come down to “A couple of people like that I am blogging again” - that hardly seems to sum ME up - can no one do any better than that?

Please?

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Tags: Family, Memes, General, Nanna, Hospital

Today. Not so good.

I received a phone call about 10.40am from Iain’s parents’ neighbour. He was very calm and matter of fact. Nanna had “had a fall”. The ambulance was at the house and Papa was in shock.

Immediately I phoned Iain at work and told him to head towards their house. Within 15 minutes the children and I were at there too but the ambulance was already away. Papa and Aunty Lesley’s partner Bob were still in the house waiting for the rest of the family to gather and head to the hospital. . .

We have basically spent the rest of the day at A&E and rather than bore you with the minute by minute details, the story seems to have been something along the lines of:

She fell down the stairs either as she was going up to bed or having forgotten something and coming back downstairs to get something on her way to bed. She fell to the foot of the stairs. She lay there and bled from the nose and mouth (possibly having bitten her tongue) long enough to have left a massive stain on the rug there. She then pulled herself up and made her way to the bannister where she bled over it and then moved on in to the hall where she has fallen and lain there until Papa found her.

He came downstairs after having slept in. He saw the blood at the bottom of the stairs and started calling for her. He found her lying on the floor and was able to get “yes” and “no” out of her when asking questions. She was in such a bad state with blood all over her face and swollen eyes that he thought she had been mugged but she was able to tell him “no” to that. He found her water bottle etc that she would have been carrying up to bed but bizarrely she was wearing shoes, not slippers. We can’t understand that.

He called 999 and was dealt with so efficiently that he started to shout at the person to hurry up! They assured him the ambulance had already been sent and would be there within minutes. They were there within 3 minutes he reckons.

The poor wee pet has managed to fracture her skull and break both wrists. She must have launched herself from the top step and gathered speed as she hurtled to the bottom. She probably smashed against the bottom wall with her forehead and putting her hands out to break her fall.

We didn’t allow David and Jessica in to see her and I let Lesley, Iain and Papa stay with her for most of the day, only going in to the ward just before bringing the kids home. She knows where she is and is able to answer questions properly but drifts in and out of sleep. One of the nurses wanted to give her tablets to swallow but her mouth is still full of dried blood and she fell asleep again in the middle of trying to suck from the straw.

The theory is they are going to transfer her as soon as possible to a bigger hospital in Belfast but there isn’t a bed available there at the moment.

Papa is beside himself with shock and guilt. She lay there all night. Probably calling for him. He slept through it all. No one blames him at all but he feels so guilty about this - it will take him a long time to get over the idea that she technically could have bled to death while he slept through it. Not a nice thing to have to live with.

There will have to be a *care package* put in to place over the next couple of weeks, especially with her wrists being broken so expect loads of exasperated updates!

Will let you know more later.

Tags: Family, Nanna

I had two *firsts* today.

Iain had an appointment in Belfast at 9am this morning so we had to be up and out extremely early. We flew down the motorway and suddenly realised that today was the first day the new underpass opened. It was great! We were on the Westlink within seconds, blinking rapidly at the ease with which we found ourselves there. Then we missed our turn-off for the city centre and spent the next 10 minutes sitting on the Westlink as per normal! Oh well!

The underpass gets a big thumbs up from us. Well done to the workers who finished the project a reported NINE months ahead of schedule. I saw a news report the other night where one of the guys interviewed said something along the lines of “Yea, we all worked very hard.” Awwww bless

The second first was a long awaited visit to the new Victoria Square in Belfast which kinda happened by accident, just because of where we parked up. Jessica was with me as we arrived far too early and had to spend 10 minutes in the Starbucks. Oh dear. Dirty job. We also had a quick wander towards the Albert Clock to let Jessica see it. she said “Wow - that is really big.” It is big - but it isn’t Big Ben - I kinda shrugged a little and explained that there are bigger but she put it in to perspective when she pointed out that “It is a LOT bigger than MY ALARM CLOCK!” She has a point there. I sometimes forget that she hasn’t seen everything yet and can still be surprised and awed by things.

I have to say I really loved Victoria Square. It was bright and airy and new . . . and you know how I love taking photos in shopping centres! By the WAAAAAY no one approached me as I blatently tool my shots. YAY!

Jessica was less than impressed by the fact it seemed packed with clothes shops rather than toy shops and even less impressed when the one toy shop we did go in to was too dear for her to cajole me in to making a purchase for her!

But, DUDE!!!!! URBAN OUTFITTERS!!! They have an Urban Outfitters! YAY! I made a very small purchase in there. Or ten. So going to have to go back there! Very soon.


We wandered around for a wee while and then headed up to the dome. The weather was fantastic and the views even better. But BOY was it like a greenhouse up there. I loved the views though.

Victoria Square is within walking distance from the ferry so any of my Scottish peeps could come for a day trip - do Starbucks, lunch, views and then be back on the ferry before 5pm!

Iain was less than impressed when he went to pay for the car park. £7.50 in one of the off-street parks. God he can moan about the price of parking.

He also had good cause to moan some more later when I went in to automatic pilot on the way to work, totally disregarded our motorway exit and proceeded to head for *home* instead for work adding a good 20 minutes on to our journey. Am still fairly convinced someone must have moved the exit cos I have no recollection of passing it. . . You’d think I would have noticed it huh?

If you know where to look, I have posted a pile of photos from the Square. I really enjoyed taking them just for fun. It isn’t often I take photos for myself and having the blog up and running again helped me get in to the mind-set. Yay.

So, good day all round. Am still trying to narrow down my choice of topics for the Something I Dislike part of my Reader Interactive Task. Have quite a few bubbling away here. More soon

Tags: Driving, Belfast, Victoria Square

I know, I know. I am like buses. . . get over it - I am on a roll now. . .

I’ve just remembered the fun news of the month!

I recently took out advertising for my business to be displayed in the local cinema. We did up a super advert, paid loads to have it installed in a poster frame and sat back waiting for the PERK to arrive.

The PERK is: FREE CINEMA TICKETS EVERY MONTH FOR TWO YEARS. YAY. YAY. And thrice YAY.

Long explanation:

One of the side effects of Iain writing off his car a while back was that we started to travel together to work. Once we got a second car, we continued to travel to work because it just made sense to keep on doing it. This meant that I stopped offering late night appointments for clients and now tell them that the last sitting of the day is 4pm. I CAN do later - up to 4.30 or 5 if it is going to be a quick shoot but the last generally is 4pm. Not once have I lost anyone to this new theory. I used to bend over backwards to facilitate them and fit in with their plans and then feel tired and annoyed for days after IF they turned up but, as previously ranted about, these would generally be the very people who DIDN’T turn up and I would have taken a second car to work just to sit there for an extra hour and then turn and come home again.

I now don’t EVER agree to Saturdays. haven’t offered a Sunday in almost a year and have only done one shoot after 5.30pm in 6 months. And that was only because the girl was a previous customer and she was worth keeping sweet. THIS has lead to me going to work on a regular basis, no longer taking mornings off, and making sure that the work I have to do is done in the time I have to do it. It also means that generally, by the time I get home I am too tired to go on to do much else. . . stay with me - I am sure there was a point somewhere around here. . .

Soooo, when the FREE CINEMA TICKETS EVERY MONTH FOR TWO YEARS arrived in the form of a pass, My Assistant and I decided that really none of our clients would like the pass as freebies, no one else in my family could go to the listings as they are in the wrong town and dude, I save SO much on fuel now by travelling with Iain every day that I can now afford the odd night out at the movies and it would be RUDE not to use them up.

SO! Expect updates on at least two films a month on a *Sod it - they are free - we don’t care if we don’t like them* kind of choosing basis.

S’cool huh?

So far, in June, we have seen What Happens in Vegas (very funny and a great way to chill) and the Indiana Jones film (just what you would expect - if you liked the other ones you will like this - and I always had a soft spot for these films) and as Jessica is with me in work most days, she and I have been to see Prince Caspian (she loved it - and announced that she would like to see it again if David wants to see it at the weekend but DUDE it is looooong!).

And here, whaddya know? It is July now and that opens up a whole new load of choices to make.

Did I mention the FREE CINEMA TICKETS EVERY MONTH FOR TWO YEARS thing?

Tags: Films

Ok Ok - don’t faint. I didn’t mean to be away that long. I didn’t mean to be away AT ALL but several things have tripped me up every time I came to share with you. The same old story about RapidWeaver being on the work iMac and not the portable Powerbook is usually enough to keep any stories firmly in my head rather than here as most of my creative thinking happens at night when I am farrrr away from work.

Anyway. The reason I am back is I have been accepted as a participant in Jenny’s Interactive Reader Task and I only have until the end of the year to complete it so thought I should get a move on. It has already taken me most of the day to get this far with technology conspiring against me until just before I had to leave work. RapidWeaver is NOW on the Powerbook and going to stay here so expect regular updates from now on.

THE TASK:

My task is to post a photograph to represent each of the following:

Something I like
Something I dislike
Something I would like
and
Something that someone else likes about me.

I can tell you loads of things I like. I can tell you even more things I dislike. I have one thing I WOULD LIKE to tell you about but am kinda stumped on finding something that someone else could possibly like about me at the moment. I am afraid that, due to a complete lack of energy and general feeling of unwellness I am not socially active and haven’t been for some time - possibly for as long as 6-8 months really. I don’t regard myself as much of a friend now and am constantly aware that I am keeping most people at arms length, prefering my own company and that of my family at home to being online or *gallavanting* as my Mother-in-Law used to accuse me of. It is a long time since she has had cause to say that word to me.

So, my task for YOU is - tell me something that you like about me. You can leave a comment or email me privately. Think carefully about this. I may ask for details or examples to back up your absurd claim and, if chosen, you may be asked to participate in any marketing or advertising I decide to embark on in the future.

Don’t all rush at once.

SOMETHING I LIKE:

My garden is my passion at the moment. One morning in February I woke up with a yearning to tackle what used to be my garden. Iain and I cleared the rubbish and the stored items out of the greenhouse and I was so shocked to find how many seed trays and old seeds, gardening implements, equipment and POTS - LOADS of pots - I had stored in the greenhouse or strewn around the garden. Up until a couple of years ago I was quite the gardener and planted loads in the medium-sized back garden we have.

Looking at it all now I have a great foundation for taking the garden a little further for myself. I have strawberries, raspberries, two apple trees, the greenhouse, loads of lavender (my favourite! and most of this was grown from seed!), potatoes, sweet pea, peas, honeysuckle, tomatoes (not one of us EATS tomatoes!) peppers, cucumbers, pumpkins, carrots, broccoli, two compost bins, a wormery, a water butt, a water feature, a Belfast sink (used to have goldfish in it!) a fecking palm tree . . . you get the picture. We couldn’t exactly start living The Good Life just yet but it gives me a great kick to be in the greenhouse from the moment I come home until the moment I go to bed. I love sowing seeds and getting creative.

Oh. You wanted a picture?! What about this one of the half pound of raspberries Jessica and I picked the other night and made in to a smoothie along with the strawberries we picked? It was very nice but had more seeds in it than shop bought ones - almost too many. . .

If I had more energy I would join one of these groups. I think these are a great idea and think it is correct for The People to claim back the areas stolen from The Commoners which are now orphaned and not being looked after by the owners. If you leave something to go wild then you can’t complain when others start to take control of it.

Keep tuned for the next installment. That’s all I have time for this evening!

Sorry, Jenny, I completely failed on the whole *briefly explain each one* idea but this way you get FOUR lots of entertainment.

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?

Tags: General, Memes, Personal