It has been a beautiful spring day here, so the fact that the heating has died again didn’t become apparent until I dipped my toe in the nice, hot bath I had run and found it to be about as warm as a polar bear’s backside. By this time I simply laughed. It went along with the rest.
The computer has died every few seconds today and I have lost more work than I have managed to do. My email has been hacked yet again, in spite of the clean-up I’ve done the past couple of days and the dog has consequently increased her vernacular vocabulary quite substantially… and has spent much of the afternoon hiding under the table.
I can’t say I blame her. I felt a bit that way when the vacuum cleaner decided to die a death, exhaling dust and fluff around the freshly polished room….
Then the village shop had closed while I was taking a call… which would not usually be a problem, but I had no butter. And, as the cupboards had revealed that I was having toast for dinner anyway unless I made it to the shop, this turned out to be a bit of a blow. The last of the cereal had gone, so there wasn’t that to fall back on either.
The dog got most of the cheese as it had curled up a bit round the edges. She didn’t mind. And the crackers were not what I really fancied either… especially not with reading about home-made lasagne and wine…
I really should have done some shopping of some description. I’d been to the shop in town early this morning after all… I was quite proud of myself for being so organised and had bought the dog’s dinner before breakfast. As usual, I didn’t consider the practicalities of feeding me.
There are a few factors at work there. Partly it is because I have always had a couple of weeks’ worth of ingredients in my cupboards… you just never know, when the family is still at home, how many you will be feeding. You just know that whatever is in the cupboards will miraculously disappear anyway. I can’t seem to get the hang of not having stuff in to play with in the kitchen. That, and the fact that this cooking for one business doesn’t cut it for me anyway.
It isn’t that I don’t cook… every day I prepare three meals for my son; sometimes just for him, but I cook for ‘lads night’ too, and there the culinary magic that delights me happens. There really is no fun in cooking unless you are going to share. It is one of those things you do for others and the dog has no real appreciation of haute cuisine.
On the other hand, it is spring and it is impossible to stay frazzled when the trees are unfurling their leaves, the birds and squirrels are dashing about and the hawks are soaring overhead. The sunlight is painting rainbows on the starlings. There are butterflies everywhere again and if my little garden is a mess, it is because sparrows are nesting all over it and I don’t want to disturb them. The garden can wait.
And I managed to fulfil a lifetime’s dream too. “You don’t think big, do you?” asked my son as he watched the grinning hobbit on his doorstep. Sometimes you don’t need to. The little things in life can bring delight to any day… and I had watched the sleepy creature crawl into the shade of a frosty morning and slowly wake. So, with a gentle finger, I stroked the furry little body of a bumblebee. Does a day need anything more?
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford and commented:
WAS THAGT BEFORE OR AFTER HE SAT IN THE SNOW???? 🙂
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😀
Thankd for the reblog 🙂
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…breath taking photography, m’Lady, Sue 🙂
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Thank you, Seumas 🙂
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Reblogged this on oshriradhekrishnabole.
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Lovely photos 🙂
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Thanks, Cathy.
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A beautiful day despite the technical problems, Sue. All the more reason to enjoy Mother Nature, as she speads her wings at last.
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I’ve just spent the last 9 hours up close and personal with earthworms… that’s enough for one day 🙂
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Great pictures, hopefully took your mind off your rumbling tummy and dying appliances! 😄
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Spring solves many problems 🙂
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what a great attitude you have sue, in spite of the polar bear plunge and all of the other irritations, you’ve seen the beauty of the day –
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It’s always there… we just have to look. 🙂
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I really liked how the pictures stood in contrast with the flustered story that you told. It made a neat duality.
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Thanks, Noah. It was that sort of a day… both ends of the spectrum 🙂
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Fantastic photos, Sue. What camera do you use? Oh and I get the cooking for one bit; doesn’t happen often that the Textiliste is away as well as the kids but when it does inspiration leaves me like than a disillusioned first date
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I have a Lumix FZ72… a gift from my son…the zoom on it is amazing.
Yep. Beans on toast or cereals… works for me.
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It is the zoom that has me. I really need something. My little cameras don’t give me your range… Jel? Me?
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Honest, the zoom is superb! I think my previous little Lumix was perhaps the better for point and shoot shots, but the trade off is well worth it!
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Stroking the bee – wonderful, Sue! Re the hack, my anti-spam filter caught one purporting to be from you. A
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I imagine most folk in my email list did too… so damnably annoying.
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Sue, Sue, Sue – I see when I visit, I must also bring you some cans of dehydrated veggies, and powdered eggs, so as long as you have water, you can always, always have the makings of a veggie omelet in the house! LOL – (will check to see if long-term-storage-powdered wine is available, as well – 🙂
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Mea culpa… I’m useless 🙂
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Au contraire! (is that spelled right? A red line indicates not so, but I trust you to get my gist 🙂 ) You are so Useful as to be necessary to quality of Life – I just hope to find a way to get you into the groove of once-every-six-weeks shopping and food that can last for 2 years, fixed at will and still be tasty/nutritious – 🙂 Anything to keep fed and alive those so necessary to My Quality of Life (it is, in the end, a self-centered quest – 🙂 which I trust you will also get!)
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Thank you 🙂 Today I have coked and gardened for almost ten hours straight… and still come home to empty cupboards… though at least I remebered to buy cereal 🙂
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🙂 – Given your labors of today, here soon, you can wander out to your yard with a salt shaker and eat raw peas when your forgot to shop – 🙂 perhaps with some nasturtium garnish? 🙂 Cloudy, misty, cool, and snowing to the northwest of us here, by just 40 miles –
Trying to gird my loins to go out and wrangle those last few tires into place – 🙂
So far, content to sit and write, instead….LOL
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Can’t say I blame you today 🙂 Got back to a couple of hundred emails too…
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While I love meeting new community members and expanding my horizons, cringe at the thought of working through that many emails everyday! 🙂 You do that without wine in the house?!? Amazing! LOL
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That’s WHY I don’t have wine in the house 😀
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Seriously – Oakley wondering why I burst out laughing just now – she hasn’t learned to read your comments…just yet…. 🙂
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LOL 😀 Ani is thrusting her lead at me.. I think she has decided I need more fresh air. She has a point… bless her, she’s been so good today. I didn’t expect to be gone half that long.
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I spent the weekend expanding fence/perimeter areas to protect young trees, but give the racing dog plenty of room do her headlong runs, and short, herding turns – she is impatiently waiting for me to move the last panel that opens up her racing track – 🙂 just need to get the back fence a tad higher over the perimeter wall, so she’s not tempted to take a flying leap up through tiny fruit trees and over the back fencing to cover the bases until the choke cherries grow into their own little impenetrable maze – 🙂
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The new place, if the move comes off, has the tiniest garden… and a field full of cows and horses. This is going to be interesting with Ani as the fence is no more than three feet of see-through wire 🙂
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Who knows? You may just find that she plays tag with her new neighbors, instead of getting into trouble for chasing them – I’ve watched many a dog ‘play tag’ and the horses are right in on the fun – the cows, not so much – calves, definitely – 🙂 Since Ani has such a good heart, I have no doubt she’ll respond quickly to any admonition to ‘play tag’ instead of ‘chasing/herding’ – 🙂
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My only worry is that she sees them as intruders on her space… at which point a six foot fence is in order!
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That is a concern – I love that Oakley ‘protects’ – she is my Castle Fort – but, it does require extra time/effort to convey what is ‘okay’ and what is too much – Oakley had a rough time of it before coming to our household – and scheduled to be put down, because she was ‘too stupid’ to be a working cattle dog – bull puckey – she is smarter than most two-leggeds I know, and highly intuitive, but, the scars of her trauma puts her on high alert status more often than need be – it is a process, to be sure –
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Ani is protective too… she saw things that worried her so me and her perimeter are kept safe regardless. Not that she’d know what to do with anything that intruded except give it a tennis ball and lick it to death, mind you…
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it was 3 months before I learned – Oakley will help the robbers carry out any electronics in the house, as long as her ‘family’ isn’t at home – 🙂 Not that they did, mind you, but the post master, who had simply left packages at the door managed to show up at a time/day when I was at home – and sat in his car, wondering what was going on, as it had never been a problem before…. 🙂
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Ani’s the same… if I’m out, she stays silent and curls up waiting. If I’m home.. all hell breaks loose if anyone comes near the house!
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A good dog is more reliable than signs/security monitoring/firearms and infinitely less heartache than accidental shootings – sigh – I was raised with firearms/safety of such – but still will take a four-legged early warning system over other such security options any day of the week – 🙂
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Firearms don’t happen here… not legally anyway 🙂 So Ani is by far my best option 🙂
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I still love the 1990’s observation of Robin Williams on England Bobbies –
“STOP! Or I’ll yell “Stop! Again” –
🙂
While I believe tyranny is easily achieved by disarming a disgurntled/enslaved population – I struggle with the controversy of gun control here in the US – I see so many good points on the one side, given the history of the world –
And yet, I see so many deficits in cries of ‘freedom’ as seen/practiced now – –
Sigh, in the end – I own guns – I know how to shoot one – but for now, they are locked away for safe/history keeping and I depend on early warning – and the tool box that holds the big-arse hammer – What can I say? I worked in law enforcement typing up the reports of what happened – for many years – – so nice to know a heavy hammer is not too far away…. 🙂 Sigh – someday, I’ll become an kind, gentle, enlightened soul… 🙂
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I don’t think turning the other cheek needs to be taken literally when under attack somehow. 😉
Personally I always enjoyed guns too and used to shoot when it was okay to own them. Only target practice… same as I used to throw knives when that was legal too. It isn’t the weapon that causes the damage but the person wielding it as such.
I’m not sure there is a right choice between freedom and enforced saftey measures. The villains will always get hold of a weapon… and I know all too well the damage that a simple screwdriver can cause. Yet the world has changed and it seems a more violent place, ready to tip over into madness at the least provocation. Perhaps the locked up guns are not such a bad idea after all.
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🙂 – All good points – on so many levels – 🙂 – and seriously, before we trade my pounds in for wine-cellar stocking, teach me how to throw knives – 🙂 – I just struggle – where does one, exactly, draw the line between being Ghandi – or Mother Theresa – etc., and protecting those they love from those who haven’t ever heard of – or if they have – care about such things? – -:) There are so many editorials/opinions floating around, here, on the matter, and yet, YET! I still sit on said fence – replying, commenting or simpling “liking” said take on the matter – and,, less moderated, left an entire blog post in the comments of another blogger about 3 months ago -trying to express, “I hear Ya! I agree – but you do realize that those who care not for such things will proceed as they wish too – – ”
It is a balancing act – this living with reality as it is – and holding dear the dream of how it could be – – 🙂 to my mind – 🙂
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I think there is always that balancing act and while ruling bodies have to legislate one way or another, individuals still have to do the best they can with discernment and the courage to do the right thing as their hearts lead them. There are no easy answers for the masses, yet if each of us followed a path of rightness and caring, the laws would barely be needed, would they?
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True – to an extent – there are so many who have never been blessed with safe, enough to eat, loving home – that reality is inconceivable to some – and never experienced by others – and so, I try, sometimes, to think about how I would navigate the world, had I never known any of the gifts I’ve been given – –
It’s not a pretty picture – 🙂 But, that’s just me and my imagination – 🙂 I do believe the human spirit can triumph in so many ways – but also understand that sometimes, there’s just too big a load of manure to try to remove from smothering said spirit –
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Manure might make the rose of the soul blossom, but it is still not the best of things to be in up to your neck .
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Sadly, still no success to quest of long-storage life powdered wine – maybe we’ll have to build a wine cellar and stock it, while I’m there, too – sigh, always some grand scheme to accomplish – LOL
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Now that I could roll my sleeves up to! I’ll get the moles to digging immediately 🙂
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And I’ll set about making sure I earn the fortune needed to stock it before I arrive – 😛
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I found a nice, light red at a mere £4 a bottle… I should have treated myself tonight. I’ve earned a glass, I feel!
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That many hours in the garden? My poor abused body says you’ve earned at least a half-litre – 🙂 and 4 pounds – – I weigh 145 – that’s a start on stocking the cellar, if you just trade me in – 🙂
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LOL.. I’ll settle for a nice strong coffee right now 🙂
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Love chatting, but seriously, I feel bad for keeping you from clearing out that email inbox – 🙂 I may just ‘like’ and refrain – next comment…or the one after it… sigh – this moderation stuff bites – – 😀
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*chuckles* I need chat or I founder 🙂
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Awesome pictures!!!
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Thank you 🙂
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Wonderful pictures – isn’t it lovely how new life and spring can rescue and otherwise frustrating day?
We’ve been trying to lure bluebirds to our property with nesting boxes and special suet mixed with meal worms. We saw our first one yesterday!
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How wonderful! We don’t get bluebirds here at all… or hummingbirds… both of which I would love to see.
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Beautiful post, Sue. Spring photos are so inspirational, all the world is coming alive in renewal. Cooking for one is a bore, I agree. When I am alone, I tend to eat popped corn for supper!
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We’re all as bad, aren’t we 🙂
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And sevens days on it’s still lovely here in Pembrokeshire. The family came for the weekend, we had a big blow-out meal and up to yesterday hubbby was till eating the left-overs while I edited, got my lesson plans sorted for the term, tired to catch up om social media(and failing!) – and ignored the housework. And the prequel to the trilogy – now coming to life, is shouting at me form in innards of the PC. Oh, and Lucy, my old cavalier King Charles, has upped her snoring in the night a notch. Still, the sun is coming up and all is peace in the house at the moment – have closed my door on snoring hubby and dog! Love all your posts, Sue x
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It is all those little things, isn’t it? 🙂
Thanks Judith.
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