Mr Frog Get ready for the New Spring Season

Mr Frog Get ready for the New Spring Season

Mr Froggy in his new colors

I think we just MIGHT be getting into Spring finally although we can't be too sure as we have been having see-saw weather just like many other places. So I thought I'd better start clearing up the yard as it looks worse for wear having had a very ultra long winter when not much was done in way of gardening chores.

The first thing you notice as you go out the back door is Mr Froggy. You might remember him from last year. He was sent down from Canada so Mike would feel more at home.

Gosh was he ever dirty and grubby. His hockey shirt was definitely needing to be given a clean -up. So that was to be my first chore..

I gave him a good scrubbing and even if he is a frog he doesn't much care for water. Then when he was good and dry I got my paints out and gave him a nice green shirt and made sure everything else on him looked like he could become one of the Dallas Stars even if he is a bit on the short side.

Until then he is waiting for his own skating rink to come,just like he did last year.

St Patrick's Day 2014

ST Patrick's Day 2014

No, we really don't celebrate St Patrick's Day as we are of English heritage although I am sure if there was a parade around we would probably go see it and cheer with all the rest of the folk. We know it is a great tradition and the Irish have a great time celebrating.

At one time when Mike worked he would get out his leprechaun slippers and wear his green tie to show some support and mark the day . Unfortunately although we still have the slippers they are now difficult to put on so that didn't happen today.

We did however have an Irish dish for lunch. Mike cooked Colcannon which is a combination of cabbage, potato , leek and butter to which you add bacon or ham or both.It was very nice. We don't eat this except on St Patrick's day so it is kind of special. Usually you would drink a good pint of Guinness with this meal or in my case, a good glass of red wine but at the moment, we are both on restricted diets so Mike had a very small glass of white wine and I had good old Adams Ale.

So I hope you had a good St Patrick's Day as well and I give you a good old Irish blessing.

The Missing Gloves

The Missing Gloves

By last September I had accumulated a pile of gardening gloves. I had all different kinds as well. Some were pretty old and I had all different kinds as well. Some leather, some cloth some plastic and some brand new ones. I kept telling everyone I needed gardening gloves so I got them for birthdays , Mother's day, and other various events. I even bought some myself.

the nest

Now go forward a couple of months to November. I went into my gardening shed and looked for my leather gloves, The were not in the pile of gloves. I must have left them somewhere but checking around just couldn't find them.

In December the same thing happened. I checked the glove pile and couldn’t find my brand new gloves. Had I dropped them outside under one of the piles of leaves? This continued throughout the winter and spring until in early March I went into the shed and the last remaining pair of gloves had gone. I checked around under the tables and on the shelves but not a glove was to be found.

Where could they all have gone?? 6 pairs of gloves and all gone missing??

I also noticed my favorite pair of garden scissors was missing as well and my safety glasses. Also a few cat bowls were gone as were some small potting cups.

The wall came down

Well today the mystery was solved.

We were cleaning out the far corner of the shed deep behind some large crates and a metal shelf and we found nearly all the missing items .It was just amazing . Some little creature had painstakingly built a little nest out of an old mop head and then barricaded itself behind a wall of mixed gloves, string, cat dishes , small tools etc etc. Even my special scissors was woven into the wall.

The whole thing was on top of a huge pile of black sunflower seeds ,the ones that Mike feed to the birds. He thought he had been buying a lot of birdseed this winter and now he knows why. Our little visitor sure didn't intend to go hungry this winter,

No sign of the guilty party but if I ever see a squirrel, rat, mouse, skunk or armadillo wearing special safety glasses I'll know who it was. (My glasses never were found.)

PS Everything had been chewed so all gloves had to be thrown away and now I keep my new gloves INSIDE the house.

Red123 by John Katzenbach

Red123 by John Katzenbach

This was a very interesting mystery written in an intriguing way as it has as a base line the old story of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf.

It is a mystery where almost immediately you know who the killer( the Wolf) is because he is the one setting up little Red Riding Hood but in this case there are 3 Little Red Riding Hoods, Red 1 2 3 and they don't know each other or why they are being targeted. But the Wolf has plans to kill them all and his plans are all very well thought out and even his wife doesn't know.Will he suceed? So now we have the mystery .

Complicated ? Yes.

Readable- a little slow at first until you understand just what is going on then the book and the characters capture you in a way that you just have to know how it will all end.

This is a good read . I really enjoyed it.

Watching a movie- “Unfinished Song”

Watching a movie- “Unfinished Song”

I watch a lot of movies but often not the current ones that are the BIG hit of the day. I see most of my movies at home watching them on Netflix. 

I used to go to the movie theater a lot in the past and enjoyed it but found as it became more and more expensive and the movies not much to my liking I switched to DVDs and then to streaming movies. This way I control what I see and the amount of sound I can stand. In movie theaters I found the sound level to be either far too loud or it seemed everyone whispered. Add to that the constant smell Of popcorn ( I really dislike the smell) and I decided home viewing was a better deal at least for me.

So last evening after I had made our usual cups of cocoa, I settled down and found a movie that looked like it might suit me. I have to say here many movies on Netflix do not but then I turn them off. Some movies are just awful these days!

The movie I chose was “Unfinished Song” or as I found out later called also “A song for Marion”. This is an English film about older people. Marion is played by Vanessa Redgrave., a great Actess. When the film opens. Marion is dying but she still loves to sing and has joined a choir of happy and diverse, older folk at the local Senior center. Her husband Arthur played Terence Stamp is a grumpy old guy who can't see good in anyone including his son but he loves his wife but can't seem to show it. The story continue and the choir enters a competition and through it ,relationships and problems get resolved. It is funny and sentimental at times but just a good honest movie to watch. I really enjoyed it.

Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Day

Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Day

This year we remembered Pancake Day.

Sometimes we remember a couple of days after the date and this year with all the other things going on and the crappy weather so unlike our normal Spring weather ,we might have forgotten but we didn't.

Mike prepared with the eggs, milk, lemon , butter and maple syrup. He found the old falling-apart British cook book and he was ready to go.

We rarely eat pancakes at any other time of the year and hardly ever the type found at fast food restaurants – those pile high rounds of thick spongy almost cake- like pancakes covered in jam and ice cream.

But our pancakes are truly special. Mike has finally figured out how to make enough at one time and can keep them hot so we can actually sit down together and eat the feast and enjoy good Mardi Gras conversation.

The pancakes were really good . Hot and swimming in the real maple syrup we had brought back from Canada , they were a delightful way to celebrate the day.

I did my bit. I found my old shiny beads to decorate the table.

Who knows maybe next year we'll find some masks as well.

If we remember....

The Sleeping Dictionary by Sujata Massey

The Sleeping Dictionary

An excellent  novel set in India when it was under British control. It is very readable and through it you will gain insight into the caste system and culture of India and the British domination of that land at that time.

Above all you will find the story of a young girl Pom ( her name changes about 5 times throughout the book) whose family is swept away in a flood. The book tells of her trials and tribulations in growing up.She works at becoming educated.

She survives by becoming a forced prostitute, losing a child, and eventually working for the love interest of the story, an English civil servant called Simon. During her time as librarian /housekeeper for Simon she becomes involved in the political struggle for indian independence and the tension during that time is well written.

An unusual title for a book but you find out in the book that it was the term used by European men who needed to quickly learn the Indian language and the quickest way to do it was to sleep with a young Indian girl.- A sleeping dictionary.

The author has made a very interesting web site about the book.

http://www.sujatamassey.com/sleepingdictionary.html