University ~ at my age? Yikes! And naughty dogs!

Finally decided to take the plunge and have signed up to The Open University. My course starts in October and is the first part towards a degree in literature.

It's been something I've been thinking about for ages.  Originally I planned to do a history degree, but after looking into it I think literature is a bit more me.

Meanwhile some dogs have been caught (by me) in the field with my lovely sheepsie neighbours.  They've been worrying the sheep for several days; and killed some.  Now we have lambs without mummies and mummies without lambs. 

When I tried to chase the dogs off  I found a dead ewe and several others injured.  The damage these dogs did was quite horrendous.  I alerted the farmer and he shot one of them, but the other got away.

Now I'm a huge dog fan ~ but on seeing what they did I wouldn't want one of those particular dogs as a family pet. Although it was sad that the dog was shot, what alternative was there?

Calm has been restored over the garden fence and the other dog hasn't returned, thank goodness.

Petworth & New Stuff

Before the weather turned a bit yuk we spent an afternoon at Petworth which was gorgeous.  The rhododendrons were beautiful and their scent floated everywhere.

Sadly didn't see any of the deer so had to settle for the swans ~ this one just loved having his picture taken. The collection of paintings here is well worth seeing and some great old kitchens.

Haven't had much time for crafts, but have started on some new projects ~ loads of things half completed; as usual. 

I've started making some cosmetic bags and zip purses; these are cut out and ready to go.

My first effort:

Really enjoyed making this ~ in the past I've always been pants at sewing, but it was a lot easier than I thought. I've had some tags made up and started a fabric stash!

And now I'm making resin pendants too!

Thank you volcano! Stuck in Goa, India.

Wow, it's been a while since I last blogged.  Had an interesting holiday in India and then the volcano thing happened.  We were in Delhi when we heard ~ our first thought was what's a volcano in Iceland got to do with us, we're in India?!  Then we heard the rest ~ our plane was stuck somewhere in the Caribbean! And no one was going anywhere.

We were so lucky compared with alot of other travellers we met. We booked with Thomson and they put us up in a hotel and paid for all our food.  It was terrible that some people were just dumped by their tour company/airline and were just left to sort it out themselves. Worse hit were travellers with non-European companies who booked online.

At the Taj Mahal and riding an elephant (I might be smiling, but the bloke wouldn't stop hitting the elephant and I was getting slightly irritated to say the least!).

Anyway finally got back home and the cooler temp was very welcome.  Our holiday in Thailand went pear shaped because of the problems out there, but never mind ~ plenty to do at home!

Funky Flowers & Anklets

I've been having a bit of a brooch and anklet fest ~ I'm tempted to list a few in my Folksy & Misi shops, but as I'm putting them in holiday mode on Saturday I don't think there's much point.  I'm not too sure if buyers can still buy when you're in holiday mode; not done it before.

I've started turning my flowers into fridge magnets and noticeboard pins for a bit of a change.   These ones are slightly smaller than the flowers I usually make.

I love making anklets ~ as soon as the sun starts to shine out come the shorts and leg shaving is taken a bit more seriously!  I've never worn an ankle bracelet myself, but whenever I list some on ebay they always sell out quickly; even with the negative connotations some still associate with them, but if you've got the ankles for it why not?

One of my favourites ~ Strawberry & Lime

Sunshine & Holidays

My blogging has been very sporadic for the last few weeks ~ I've been rather pre-occupied with my forthcoming trip to India. I leave on Saturday! I've never been before, but after watching Masterchef last night I can't wait.  It's a totally different holiday to anything I've done previously.  I've one more shopping trip to make on Thursday and then we're all set to go.  My OH has already packed!

After our trip to the South Pacific last August I had a few problems with one of my legs swelling up after flying. I've had to buy some rather hideous sock things to wear on the plane and with a bit of walking about during the flight I should be ok.

After joining the National Trust we had one of our 'how many places can you visit in one day' days ~ we managed three.  We visited Ightham Mote, Knole and Scotney Castle.  All great places to visit if you're ever in Kent.

Just love soaking up all that history!

Coughing! Favourite Fing Friday!

Ages since I last blogged ~ finally managing to do my favourite fing Friday on Friday!

I've spent the past week endlessly coughing and once I start there's no stopping me (crossed legs as well ~ if you know what I mean).  Went to the doc; I have viral bronchitis ~ great! I used to suffer with asthma, but haven't had an attack in years; now this coughing has aggravated it and I've got to take a blooming inhaler for a while. Took me ages to ween myself off the things!

As I mentioned illness I picked my favourite thing as a lovely little book I discovered a few years ago in a secondhand book shop.  It's called 'Primitive Psychic' and was published in 1824. It has gorgeous olde handwriting inside the cover and I can just imagine it being carried in the pocket of a doctor in the regency period ~ flicking through the well-thumbed pages in search of a treatment or remedy.

Some of the treatments listed in the book are quite peculiar and it's hard to believe that this was a serious book written by John Wesley and originally published in 1747. 

Some of the suggestions for treating a cough are chewing Peruvian bark (?), a slice of turnip spread with sugar and drinking a pint of water while lying down. Interesting though, it has a honey and lemon remedy to ~ so not so strange!

One of my personal favourites though is one for a deep cut ~ bind on toasted cheese! Interesting!

Love these old books though, they really fire the imagination!

Favourite Fings Friday!

Right, I was planning to do a favourite things each Friday.  I know it's Saturday today, but as I forgot to take the photos I was going to include I'm doing it a day late this time.

I'm told that I'm really nosy (probably true) so as I like nosing around in other peoples 'stuff' I thought I'd let everyone else nose around each Friday at something I have in the many boxes and cupboards that I fill with what I'm told is junk! To me it's treasure, of course.

This 'mizpah' brooch is one of my favourite things; I inherited it from my Great Grandmother, Beatrice (known as Minnie). It was a gift to her from my Great Grandfather, Albert;she wore it while he was in France during WW1.  He was a blacksmith from the East End of London and during the war he rode horses which pulled the artillery guns to the front line.

Here they are with my Grandad in about 1913.