Catching up...

I have been away but I am back and I shall be catching up with the posts waiting to be published before I went away and then reports on my trip to the UK.  I had limited internet access so actually went back to the old fashioned method of writing down my musings and these will then have to be converted into digital form!!!!

Charlie has seemed off colour the last couple of days which generally means he has eaten something which has disagreed with him and he is feeling sorry for himself.  At this time of year it could be a mouse or a shrew or any number of the lizards and skinks we have in the vicinity - I have even seen him playing with a snake when he was younger but my guess is that he brought in one of the massive locust type grasshoppers and probably bit off more than he could chew in more ways than one.


I can handle most things even the big old tarantulas but not these because they fly and make a horrid noise when they are doing it so this is a 'blue' job rather than a 'pink' job so it meant that John had to rescue it and me.

The cats always look really surprised that we have the audacity to remove their new toy/meal but really why would you want to chomp on one of those locust things - they are disgusting!!!

Anyway John came to the rescue and lobbed it over into the field next door and I am guessing that it was none the worse for its encounter although if I look closely at the photograph it does appear to be missing part of its back leg.

So my next question today is where in any of the Ideal Home, Home and Garden, House Beautiful Magazines does it say that this year's must have accessory is a ginger cat as an ornament on your dresser?

I turn my back for one minute and find Charlie flaked out on our new furniture.  Bless him I know he struggles in the heat but really there is so much glass around him and he is clumsy at the best of times not to mention the amount of fur he sheds all over the place.  I love the cats but next time I am having one of those bald ones - everything in this house is covered in cats hairs.

We went off down to Polis this morning to have tea and stickies with Gillian and David Carbine.  Gillian had asked me if I might try and do a portrait of her granddaughter Grace and I said I would give it a go although this is not something I have ever tried before.  She also wanted to have it done in pencil to match some portraits she already has at her house - again this is not a medium I have ever tried.  I said I was happy to give it a go but would understand if the end result was not to her liking.  Having never met Grace I couldn't begin to capture her spirit on paper and there is something about not getting a portrait to look alive.

I had two attempts at her portrait using two different photographs which Gill gave me.

The first is on the right which was, to begin with, just a practice but I liked the picture even if it didn't really look anything like Grace and then the second on the left was done with pencils.

I hope Gill likes them - she seemed really pleased when I gave them to her.  She is a bit of an artist herself so the whole thing was a bit daunting.  Anyway it was a nice excuse to meet up at Tina's Art Cafe and have an hour or so with Gill and David.

Once back home John shot off to see Bassam as he had managed to locate some replacement carbon brushes for Bassam's big drill in Polis of all places.  We had scoured the internet trying to find them with no luck and then a chance conversation at the place where we get our car batteries led us to the shop which used to be Glykkis and a man who could help.



After a lovely quiet afternoon with John keeping abreast of the football scores and willing Charlton to get to the playoffs (which they did) we sat down to fridge surprise for tea as John is going to Polis to get his hair cut Monday and do some shopping.  For John he had two Yorkshire puddings filled with chilli and some additional home-made chilli sauce and freshly grated cheese to go on top and I had the other two Yorkshires filled with garlic mushrooms and topped with mozzarella, coriander and balsamic reduction.  Both fillings courtesy of the freezer as we needed to make some room.  I had to eat my mushrooms in a different room obviously because you know how John hates them.