Going out with a bang!

This made me chuckle....I have to wonder at my warped sense of humour sometimes!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Arilx

Wall to wall.

Not quite there...Mr GBT should finish the last bit of wallpapering over the weekend and then we can get the flags out. Snapped a quick shot to share here whilst I remembered. The design is based on a fragment of 17th embossed and painted leather which is held in the English Heritage wallpaper archive [or so the website tells me!]. The panels would have been sewn together and then hung on the wall. Paid a pretty penny [even with 20% off], but what the heck eh. I love it and the money has come from an inheritance.

Arilx

He Haw.

I was saddened to hear of the loss of a former client of mine late last week. It wasn't unexpected as I knew she was seriously ill, but I had always enjoyed her company and only stopped when her Alzheimers got a serious hold and she needed to go into care.

Socially I'd known this lady for years. She and I shared a dry sense of humour and a shared love of donkeys. When she was growing up her Father had looked after the donkeys who worked on the beaches in Sussex over the winter months and when I first met her she herself had a rescue jenny and foal which she kept in the field behind her home.

These two were stars in their own right. They had the leading roles in the Palm Sunday and Christmas Eve services in the village church and when we visited they really didn't care to be ignored. On one occasion I made this very faux pas and turned my back on them. The Mother popped her head over the low field fence, under my skirt and pushed me forward from behind my knees. It's quite a forceful shove I can tell you... I took the hint and she got her cuddle! D always maintained that they were much misunderstood creatures..their reputation for stubbornness was undeserved. They were only awkward if they were fearful or unhappy. Mr GBT took this photo on our recent holiday in Clovelly. D would have enjoyed this and I shall miss her.

Arilx

Unrecyclables...three down!

Aargh the bane of my life....blooming rubbish which apparently you can't recycle. Honest guv I try to be proactive by not bringing the dratted stuff in over the drawbridge, but I experience Epic Fails on a thuddingly regular basis. Thankfully, slip ups aside, progress is being made and both the landfill/recycling bins are needing to be put out far less frequently now.

Three things which really get my goat are disposable coffee cups....millions of them about and no plan in place for what to do with the things. Basking in the reflection of my own smugness I invested the GBT pennies in one of these earlier this year.

Now I have to confess that I have taken it out of its wrapping, but has it seen active service? Has it heck! I rarely buy takeaway drinks [I'm a gal with a cafe habit to support don't you know!], but even if I did I would never have had it with me. Fortunately Ice Badger [a lady who will freely admit is not to be approached before her first caffeine hit of the day] told me that she keeps hers in the car. A little strategy I shall adopt....I will be able to practise when I'm marooned at the NEC working in a few weeks time. Yesterday I found out that Costa now are running a scheme whereby they will take any brand of coffee cup in all their stores and send them off to be recycled.

Another thing which sets the little hobbit legs a-stamping are those foil pouches which the pet food comes in. However, the technology now exists to deal with them in the right way rather than them having to end up in a big hole. Although you have to stump up for post and packaging you can send your clean pouches along with various other plastic/foil laminates [I've emailed them for a more specific breakdown] to http://www.enval.com/ An email has already gone off to the waste department in our local council to ask them to investigate this option further. The recycling level in the county is still well below the target it's been set so something needs doing.

Finally, plastic bottle tops. The milk bottle ones are collected for a local charity. Like a terrier after a rat, I was not to be deterred and a bit of bloody mindedness on my part has led to the finding that Lush are still taking them in all their stores. They send them back to their HQ and they are then chipped and made into new containers for their products.

Getting there!

Arilx

All Around My Hat

Shhh....best to keep this under your hat....I'm a closet folkie. Somehow, knowing what you've already read about me, that little revelation will come as no great surprise. I have enjoyed the music of many varied acts over the centuries, but it always comes back down to Steeleye Span for me. With a catalogue like theirs I'd be hard pressed to pick any one favourite so instead I'm putting up the one most people know along with a piccie of a rather marvellous piece of head wear I asked Mr GBT to sneak a photo of in Wimbourne. Now I know what to do with all those googly eyes!

We are hoping to finish the seemingly never ending task of decorating...I am sincerely hoping to have some slightly more thrilling blogging material to cover in the coming weeks! Please bear with me!

Arilx

No Brownie Points

Sadly not the right way to go about burning calories!

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend.

Arilx

Fragile

Fragile by Sting.

Arilx