Sunday, 28 March 2010
Spring Flowers
...
We went for a bit of a drive yesterday. On the way home we stopped In Forres to photograph the Spring Crocus flowers in the park. They have deep yellow ones at the far end of town, but only purple and white in the park.
It was almost evening, so the light was dim and the colours are a bit faded.
The park in Forres is the prettiest park, I think. It looks good in every season. :-)
...
We went for a bit of a drive yesterday. On the way home we stopped In Forres to photograph the Spring Crocus flowers in the park. They have deep yellow ones at the far end of town, but only purple and white in the park.
It was almost evening, so the light was dim and the colours are a bit faded.
The park in Forres is the prettiest park, I think. It looks good in every season. :-)...
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
Small Spaces
...
Elizabeth, of Gifts of the Journey, recently posted photos of her books and personal space items. It was such a lovely post that it inspired me to get out my camera and take my own photos. Since we moved 2 years ago I haven't unpacked most of my things. This house doesn't have a place for me to put my big book shelf and my little wall shelves, so the books and things that go on them are still packed away. BUT I do have a small bookcase in our bedroom . :-) It has some of my old favourites and new gifts I've received the last two years.
Top Shelf from left -The carousel horse globe is old... and gone yellow! :-( No idea why, but I still love it. The little black box and carved wooden box are both new-old gifts from my dad. "New-old" means bought from a charity shop or the recycle shop. I like old things with character. In between is a saucer thing which holds some of my stones. I collect all kinds of stones, but my favourite are river and sea pebbles. :-)
A close up of the Top and middle shelf. the middle shelf has the bookmark I got from my friend, Tint, for Christmas and another of the wooden boxes I bought myself. There's a story to those boxes. I'll tell you later. ;-) The penguin is old. I've had him since I was a teenager. He's basketwork from Asia. The teapot "bush" with the tiny bluebird on top is a little thing I picked up in a charity shop recently. It made me smile. The books are all reference books.
Bottom shelf - some old favourites and some new gifts.
The oldest is on the far right - "The Princess and Curdie" and "The Princess and the Goblins" which is are strange-enchanting children's books that I loved when I was little and have always wanted to reread. It was second hand when I was given it as a child. No idea how old it is. I should check.
My husband's set of Ann McCaffrey's books, which I read last year after surgery. The rest are such a mix. I just realised the big white book next to Damia is old too. It was given to me by an 80 year old lady in 2001. It's Rosicrucian astrology. The other white book next to it is an encyclopedia of fairy legends and folk tales of Europe. I've had that book since I was a teen too. There's also a book on Scottish legends in there somewhere.
Most of the other books are gifts from friends, except "Illusions" by Richard Bach, that I bought when I was 15.
Now those wooden boxes... They are spice boxes. Made to hold cloves and other spices. I bought the middle one myself, complete with very old cloves inside. I keep my crystals and stones in them. I left the spices in as they smell so nice.
The little black box is actually made of black glass, lined with black velvet. I keep my smallest book in it - quotes about Cats. It also holds two stone hearts. Here they are, with a flint my husband found for me. You can see the saucer thing with stones next to it. There's also a chakra pendulum my parents bought me and a cute spiral another friend sent me years ago - she glued it on a gift.
So what do you have on your shelves? :-)
...
Elizabeth, of Gifts of the Journey, recently posted photos of her books and personal space items. It was such a lovely post that it inspired me to get out my camera and take my own photos. Since we moved 2 years ago I haven't unpacked most of my things. This house doesn't have a place for me to put my big book shelf and my little wall shelves, so the books and things that go on them are still packed away. BUT I do have a small bookcase in our bedroom . :-) It has some of my old favourites and new gifts I've received the last two years.
Top Shelf from left -The carousel horse globe is old... and gone yellow! :-( No idea why, but I still love it. The little black box and carved wooden box are both new-old gifts from my dad. "New-old" means bought from a charity shop or the recycle shop. I like old things with character. In between is a saucer thing which holds some of my stones. I collect all kinds of stones, but my favourite are river and sea pebbles. :-)
A close up of the Top and middle shelf. the middle shelf has the bookmark I got from my friend, Tint, for Christmas and another of the wooden boxes I bought myself. There's a story to those boxes. I'll tell you later. ;-) The penguin is old. I've had him since I was a teenager. He's basketwork from Asia. The teapot "bush" with the tiny bluebird on top is a little thing I picked up in a charity shop recently. It made me smile. The books are all reference books.
Bottom shelf - some old favourites and some new gifts.The oldest is on the far right - "The Princess and Curdie" and "The Princess and the Goblins" which is are strange-enchanting children's books that I loved when I was little and have always wanted to reread. It was second hand when I was given it as a child. No idea how old it is. I should check.
My husband's set of Ann McCaffrey's books, which I read last year after surgery. The rest are such a mix. I just realised the big white book next to Damia is old too. It was given to me by an 80 year old lady in 2001. It's Rosicrucian astrology. The other white book next to it is an encyclopedia of fairy legends and folk tales of Europe. I've had that book since I was a teen too. There's also a book on Scottish legends in there somewhere.
Most of the other books are gifts from friends, except "Illusions" by Richard Bach, that I bought when I was 15.
Now those wooden boxes... They are spice boxes. Made to hold cloves and other spices. I bought the middle one myself, complete with very old cloves inside. I keep my crystals and stones in them. I left the spices in as they smell so nice.
The little black box is actually made of black glass, lined with black velvet. I keep my smallest book in it - quotes about Cats. It also holds two stone hearts. Here they are, with a flint my husband found for me. You can see the saucer thing with stones next to it. There's also a chakra pendulum my parents bought me and a cute spiral another friend sent me years ago - she glued it on a gift.
So what do you have on your shelves? :-)...
Monday, 22 March 2010
Bun Warmer
...
Bunny Boy is back in the garden and has once again setting out his favourite snooze spots. Photos taken from the kitchen window tend to produce a small bunny blob, but at least it gives readers an idea of Bunny Boy's territory.
"Bunny Birdbath" is a concrete birdbath shaped a bit like a mushroom. BB (Bunny Boy) likes to sleep with his back up against that birdbath, especially on windy or rainy days. On sunny days he sleeps in a hollow in the grass... where he is in this photo on the right.
In between his two snooze spots lies bird territory. The tree and African birdbath belong to all the small birds and the grass in front belongs to the big birds. There was a female pheasant in the garden when I took the photo, so I labelled her as well. :-) The African birdbath is actually a grinding stone - for grinding grain. It has been in our family for three generations.
The little birds get seed in feeder tubes in the tree. For the crows I put food left overs and bread out on the grass. The seagulls usually try to get there first to gobble everything, so the crows have figured a plan. They grab the bread... and bury it! They either hide it in our garden under leaves or bushes, or they take it into the farm fields and literally bury it in the fields.
When the bread is dry the crows bring it back to dunk in the bird baths. They prefer their food moist. Smart birds, crows. ;-)
Well... this Saturday I'm standing in the kitchen watching BB sleep against his birdbath when suddenly he goes stiff... stares behind him. There on the wall is a crow, GLARING at BB. For a while they just sat there staring each other down. I'd never seen that happen before.
The crow hopped down and started walking towards BB, but BB did the macho-bunny thing of staring him down... till the last moment. Crows are big birds with sharp beaks. At the very last moment, just before he was in beak range, BB took a big leap sideways, then stretched and yawned... with his fuzzy tail facing the crow! As if he was saying, "I'll get out of your way, but I'll put my rear in your face." I think the message was clear?
Crow dashed over to the birdbath... and pulled out a bread slice! That was why the crow was so edgy - BB had been lying sleeping on some stashed crow bread. Once the crow had his lunch he was happy and BB returned to sleeping.
glitter-graphics.com
I've heard of toasted bread and warm buns, but bread warmed by a bun... ? I bet Bunny warmed bread is tastier than cold bread straight out the ground.
...
Bunny Boy is back in the garden and has once again setting out his favourite snooze spots. Photos taken from the kitchen window tend to produce a small bunny blob, but at least it gives readers an idea of Bunny Boy's territory.
"Bunny Birdbath" is a concrete birdbath shaped a bit like a mushroom. BB (Bunny Boy) likes to sleep with his back up against that birdbath, especially on windy or rainy days. On sunny days he sleeps in a hollow in the grass... where he is in this photo on the right.
In between his two snooze spots lies bird territory. The tree and African birdbath belong to all the small birds and the grass in front belongs to the big birds. There was a female pheasant in the garden when I took the photo, so I labelled her as well. :-) The African birdbath is actually a grinding stone - for grinding grain. It has been in our family for three generations.
The little birds get seed in feeder tubes in the tree. For the crows I put food left overs and bread out on the grass. The seagulls usually try to get there first to gobble everything, so the crows have figured a plan. They grab the bread... and bury it! They either hide it in our garden under leaves or bushes, or they take it into the farm fields and literally bury it in the fields.
When the bread is dry the crows bring it back to dunk in the bird baths. They prefer their food moist. Smart birds, crows. ;-)
Well... this Saturday I'm standing in the kitchen watching BB sleep against his birdbath when suddenly he goes stiff... stares behind him. There on the wall is a crow, GLARING at BB. For a while they just sat there staring each other down. I'd never seen that happen before.
The crow hopped down and started walking towards BB, but BB did the macho-bunny thing of staring him down... till the last moment. Crows are big birds with sharp beaks. At the very last moment, just before he was in beak range, BB took a big leap sideways, then stretched and yawned... with his fuzzy tail facing the crow! As if he was saying, "I'll get out of your way, but I'll put my rear in your face." I think the message was clear?
Crow dashed over to the birdbath... and pulled out a bread slice! That was why the crow was so edgy - BB had been lying sleeping on some stashed crow bread. Once the crow had his lunch he was happy and BB returned to sleeping.
glitter-graphics.comI've heard of toasted bread and warm buns, but bread warmed by a bun... ? I bet Bunny warmed bread is tastier than cold bread straight out the ground.
...
Friday, 19 March 2010
Soundtrack Saturday - Going with Gabriel
Soundtrack Saturday is hosted by Rating Reads. Anyone can participate. Here are the instructions:
- Take your current read or recently finished book.
- Find at least one song that fits the story, characters, whatever.
- Post the book title and song(s) on your blog with a brief explanation.
- Don't forget to mention who started it.
- Linking/embedding a song or video in your post is not necessary to participate.
- Head over to Rating Reads and add your post to the Mr. Linky.
Song: Unknown tune by unknown musician
Why: The main character of this book, Gabriel, is a wandering musician desperately trying to stay unknown and invisible. He plays the tin whistle moves from town to town busking with friends. The young man in my YouTube music video not only is living a similar lifestyle to Gabriel - he's dressed like him too. He's also playing the kind of tune I know Gabriel would probably have enjoyed playing. I liked that and I liked the fact that this music video was filmed in a town in South Africa I know, even though the book story plays out in the UK and Europe.
Going with Gabriel is a new book, published this year. I was very kindly sent a copy by the author, Bryan, who also lives in the Highlands of Scotland. I found it an entertaining thought-provoking story. I'm pasting some of my review of the book (for Amazon) here:
Going with Gabriel is a new book, published this year. I was very kindly sent a copy by the author, Bryan, who also lives in the Highlands of Scotland. I found it an entertaining thought-provoking story. I'm pasting some of my review of the book (for Amazon) here:
Gabriel's survival may lie in staying invisible, but his magical musical talent makes that near impossible. As he weaves the people he meets into his songs, he tries to keep them from being woven into his heart, but is that possible? Gabriel seems to be hiding from his past, but is he actually trying to run away from his future... How long before the secrets he is running from finally catch up with him? Where is Gabriel really going and does he have any choice?
Gabriel's secret fears are not the stuff of fantasy, they are based on genuine concerns facing this planet as we sit here reading. That's what makes this book more than merely an enjoyable adventure story - the research that Bryan Islip has used to place his fiction upon a foundation of fact.
Whether you agree with Gabriel's choices or are appalled by his decisions this book is bound to change the way you look at the world... and that, in my opinion, is the sign of a really good story.
...
Thursday, 18 March 2010
Tired
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I had a check up at the hospital today, for the endometriosis.
The plus side - everyone at the clinic is fantastic. It's more like visiting friends who also do medical examinations than going for a check up.
The down side - things aren't quite what they should be and the specialist wants me back for a full ultrasound. I have lumps and bumps in strange places. It might just be normal, for me, or they might be new lumps and bumps. They need to be safe and check.
You see, I have what they call a frozen pelvis. All my internal organs are stuck together and stuck to my abdominal walls, etc. Nothing is where it should be, things didn't get stuck together in any nice tidy order. It's a big chunk of lumps and bumps, so trying to look clearly at anything in there? Not easy.
The thing that has me the grumpiest is that this stupid illness, with fibromyalgia slapped on top, leaves me completely drained of energy. I can get up feeling fine and be hit by a wave of tired that feels almost like your drugged. Being home I can hide out on my bed when I get really useless, but I wonder what other people with chrnoc fatifue* symptoms do when they have to hold down jobs or raise children... my mind boggles!
To give you an idea how the tiredness affedts everything I've left my typos in this post. On a good day I make very few typing errors - on a tired day I'm like another language! I even talk backwards. IT's funny, but it also makes you fed up and frustrated when you just want to get to the point... or remengber what the point was.
* that was a typo for chronic fatigue.
...
I had a check up at the hospital today, for the endometriosis.
The plus side - everyone at the clinic is fantastic. It's more like visiting friends who also do medical examinations than going for a check up.
The down side - things aren't quite what they should be and the specialist wants me back for a full ultrasound. I have lumps and bumps in strange places. It might just be normal, for me, or they might be new lumps and bumps. They need to be safe and check.
You see, I have what they call a frozen pelvis. All my internal organs are stuck together and stuck to my abdominal walls, etc. Nothing is where it should be, things didn't get stuck together in any nice tidy order. It's a big chunk of lumps and bumps, so trying to look clearly at anything in there? Not easy.
The thing that has me the grumpiest is that this stupid illness, with fibromyalgia slapped on top, leaves me completely drained of energy. I can get up feeling fine and be hit by a wave of tired that feels almost like your drugged. Being home I can hide out on my bed when I get really useless, but I wonder what other people with chrnoc fatifue* symptoms do when they have to hold down jobs or raise children... my mind boggles!
To give you an idea how the tiredness affedts everything I've left my typos in this post. On a good day I make very few typing errors - on a tired day I'm like another language! I even talk backwards. IT's funny, but it also makes you fed up and frustrated when you just want to get to the point... or remengber what the point was.
* that was a typo for chronic fatigue.
...
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Happy St Patrick's Day...
...
May you always have...
And finally... the wonderful Irish song "When Irish Eyes are Smiling" played as you have NEVER heard it before. ;-)
...
May you always have...
Walls for the winds,
A roof for the rain,
Tea beside the fire,
Laughter to cheer you,
Those you love near you,
And all your heart might desire!
A roof for the rain,
Tea beside the fire,
Laughter to cheer you,
Those you love near you,
And all your heart might desire!
And finally... the wonderful Irish song "When Irish Eyes are Smiling" played as you have NEVER heard it before. ;-)
MAZELTOV!
...
Monday, 15 March 2010
The Ides of March
...
The Ides of March (15th) are most famous for being a warning. Julius Caesar was foretold to "be ware" them... and was actually murdered on the day. What I never bothered to find out was what the word "Ides" means. My dad, a great lover of small details and quirky facts, did that research for me. Last week he found out that the word means "half division" of the month.
So the Ides of a month are the midway day of a month.
I was sent a very cute poem about the "Id's" of March by my fellow blogger friend, Shastri. :-)
So the Ides of a month are the midway day of a month.
I was sent a very cute poem about the "Id's" of March by my fellow blogger friend, Shastri. :-)
I'ds of March
I'd like the wind to sweep a snowless path,
I'd like the rain to soothe the winter's wrath,
I'd like the sun to warm the barren earth,
I'd like spring to have an early birth.
Talitha Botsford
I'd like the wind to sweep a snowless path,
I'd like the rain to soothe the winter's wrath,
I'd like the sun to warm the barren earth,
I'd like spring to have an early birth.
Talitha Botsford
Saturday, 13 March 2010
The Bun-and-Only...
...
Bunny Boy is back! :-D
For new readers - Bunny Boy came to our garden three years ago as a tiny "microbun", as my husband called him. He was a charmer from the start - peeping through our patio glass door to human-watch... sleeping in my herb pot on my chives!
Every Winter he vanishes.. and every Spring he returns... bigger but still the same laid-back bunny we've grown to love. He's easy to recognise (rabbits do look a lot alike) because he has a scar above one eye. The first year of life he hurt his eye and we feared he might lose it. It was swollen shut for weeks and he spent a lot of that time lying under our barbecue feeling poorly and limp. But he did recover and the eye looks fine, except for the scar.
He used to sleep under the barbecue as a youngster, but last year he finally reached a size where he was too big to fit anymore. His new favourite spot last summer was sitting up against a tall birdbath. It's shaped like a mushroom and Bunny Boy likes to use it as an umbrella on rainy days. I'm hoping I can get some photos of him doing that this year.
I'm so glad to see him back again... snoozing in his favourite spot by the birdbath. Spring is officially here, it seems. :-)
...
Bunny Boy is back! :-DFor new readers - Bunny Boy came to our garden three years ago as a tiny "microbun", as my husband called him. He was a charmer from the start - peeping through our patio glass door to human-watch... sleeping in my herb pot on my chives!
Every Winter he vanishes.. and every Spring he returns... bigger but still the same laid-back bunny we've grown to love. He's easy to recognise (rabbits do look a lot alike) because he has a scar above one eye. The first year of life he hurt his eye and we feared he might lose it. It was swollen shut for weeks and he spent a lot of that time lying under our barbecue feeling poorly and limp. But he did recover and the eye looks fine, except for the scar.
He used to sleep under the barbecue as a youngster, but last year he finally reached a size where he was too big to fit anymore. His new favourite spot last summer was sitting up against a tall birdbath. It's shaped like a mushroom and Bunny Boy likes to use it as an umbrella on rainy days. I'm hoping I can get some photos of him doing that this year.
I'm so glad to see him back again... snoozing in his favourite spot by the birdbath. Spring is officially here, it seems. :-)
...
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
VERY Different! :-)
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Well, after an entire day fighting with blogger templates and pages I finally figured a way to create the page I wanted... by placing a blog within a page.
Hopefully this has worked. Feedback would be appreciated! :-)
To find the link please click on "FIRST LIGHT BY MICHELLE FROST" , above-right of the world clock, and take the link from there.
...
Well, after an entire day fighting with blogger templates and pages I finally figured a way to create the page I wanted... by placing a blog within a page.
Hopefully this has worked. Feedback would be appreciated! :-)
To find the link please click on "FIRST LIGHT BY MICHELLE FROST" , above-right of the world clock, and take the link from there.
...
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
Some Adjustments
...
I seem to be out of words at the moment, so I took the time to do some moving and sorting on my blog. I've added two pages - one for my awards, which were starting to overflow, and one for info about my book, "First Light."
You can see the new page links on the top, just above the world clock. HOME takes you back to the basic blog. If anyone knows how to put seperate wallpapers up on each page... please let me know! I'd love to do that, but haven't a clue how.
...
I seem to be out of words at the moment, so I took the time to do some moving and sorting on my blog. I've added two pages - one for my awards, which were starting to overflow, and one for info about my book, "First Light."
You can see the new page links on the top, just above the world clock. HOME takes you back to the basic blog. If anyone knows how to put seperate wallpapers up on each page... please let me know! I'd love to do that, but haven't a clue how.
...
Friday, 5 March 2010
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