genialgemsandothergabblings

I have found out where the cat that Peter has called 'Snowy' has been living, in a shed in next doors garden.  I think he may have been there a good couple of months as I now remember disturbing a cat in June when I was watering the plants when the neighbour was away. He has now taken to turning up when its meal time with the others and he has even taken a cat treat from my hand, although still very nervous. It doesn't take them long though to 'catch on does it? We had a nice weekend and how lovely again to enjoy some sunshine. We headed off to a new garden centre that I had found out about near Bury. It was lovely and  they have a bistro there and of course we had our lunch.! After which we went into Bury itself and that was a revelation ,I had not expected the lovely modern clean town that we found, packed full of new shops. It really beats most places near  here face down! Yesterday on the canal we spent a quiet couple of hours having  a coffee a...

This is the question  that has kept us busy this week. We noticed the cat a few days ago sneaking into the garden to clear anything left on' our lots plates'. He was so nervous and would not go for the food until  I retreated .  He ate like he had not seen a meal for a long long time! Then he missed a day andI  thought he had gone but since then he appears every teatime ,eats and then goes off through the hedge. If he keeps coming and gets a little less nervous we will try and arrange a trap and see if we can get him to a vet for a tag check and a look over, at the moment his long coat is a state. I am trying to keep Ollie from seeing him too much , the others seem just to stare at the interloper! Found a little time to do a bit more scrap booking using some of the lovely papers from Crafty hearts . I am so sad that that lovely little shop will be closing but I wish everyone there well in the future. Bebe as you can see in the top photo is just as soppy as e...

I spent yesterday chasing up and down the canal towpath,camera in hand trying....... and I do mean trying to take pictures of  a Dragon fly and  this elusive butterfly. They would hardly settle even for the briefest moment to enable me to get close enough to make the shot worthwhile.  I had been on the track of a huge but rather boring brown dragonfly and then as luck would have it the yellow stripey one appeared and landed for ages! He is blended so well though with the foliage that you have to look hard. Last night I looked out the back garden and there waiting alongside Tom was the little Hedgehog. He was only small but seemed healthy and was soon tucking into pieces of chicken and cat biscuits and then he raced off right down the garden at a pace that would have done a sprinter proud!

Well you certainly can't wait around for good weather in this part of the country and we try and get out and about as much as possible. At any rate even if it rains we are under cover on the boat ,as were all the people on the day trip boats on the canal on Sunday. We spotted not one but two Kingfishers, together  and an array of other wildlife all doing what they do best in the summer months. The tomatoes in the greenhouse are huge fat ones this year and have only just this week begun to turn red, through lack of sunshine and my crop of Sunflowers are suffering this too. The new summerhouse came into its own last weekend when despite the rain we were able to enjoy a lovely tasty bbq out there with Ginger and Tom sitting with us waiting for bits of chicken and the remains of our Raspberry  cream desserts! On a more serious front I have joined the National Osteoporosis Society, as  mum, once again, has broken ribs after a fall . This is cruel and horrible illness that ro...

 After a bit of a breather I am back! How time does fly by and the months since my last post have been busy ones. First our holiday to the USA was a great success and we covered an astounding 1000 miles plus around Arizona and Nevada. Train rides in old wild west country , a balloon flight over the Desert and a trip to  the magnificent Grand Canyon, the crazy delights of Las vegas , we saw it all!  On our arrival  back home we decided to pull down an old chicken shed, move a small summerhouse to make room for a large summerhouse which  I saw in a Sale. Sounded like a good idea at the time but after all the work involved I wish I had been forcefully restrained at the point of purchase! We have also been out and about trying to make use of the boat, the weather has been not as good as we would have liked and the canal has been a bit short on water so the mud has been churned up and keeps blocking the engine. I thought it was supposed to be relaxing!...

Earlier in the year when we had all that ice and snow the pond liner was damaged by a man with a stick[we will leave the rest unsaid] so it meant that the fish were without a home and they had been in temporary accomodation in two small tubs in the shed ever since. Anyway 3 weeks ago Peter and my nephew Craig spent a very busy day clearing out buckets and buckets of smelly mud and removing about a 100 frogs and set about relining it. It proved a difficult job as Peter had on a previous effort cemented the stones on with great effect and trying to shift them was a massive job. Anyway after some really hard work  once again the fish and frogs are happy in time for Spring! Infact it did feel like Spring was on it's way but with all this cold and wet weather it seems to have once again gone into hiding and the fire is back on and after a visit to my favourite craft shop Craftyhearts in Preston I was inspired again ,coming back with some lovely bi...

Jasper came into my life on Wednesday morning at about 10am while I was over at Mums in Wigan... by 1pm he had gone but it was lovely while it lasted as I fell head over heels for his dark good looks and affectionate nature! The first thing that I noticed about him was his fetching long tail as it disappeared beneath the shed in the garden and so I went to investigate,stooping down to peer below,  I saw a little face and then heard a plaintiff cry.  'Well then and what are you doing under here ' I said and in answer out popped a little black kitten, very upset but friendly.' 'Oh my ,I think you may be lost and probably hungry' and he followed me up to the house where he proceeded to demolish a whole packet of cat food  just to prove me right. Having no collar on him I was then at a bit of a loss as to what to do and he was by this time sitting outside the back door wailing his little old head off to be let in.  When I went out to take the washing...