Tiles

Well today I should be filled with the greatest joy as I'll be setting off on my hols later but it would appear I've lost my mp3 player when I was out and about yesterday . This does fill me with sadness as I have lots of my favourite music on it and there's nothing like being able to lose yourself in your music I think. I have phoned around in the hope that some honest soul will have handed it in but no joy, the cynic in me says anyone finding it would keep it but I live in hope that maybe one of the honest people in the world will find it.

Also still no sign of daughter's cat, not looking good.

Maybe I should just abandon holiday and stay at home...

Yesterday I got a text from my eldest daughter to say her moggie who doesn't go out had! And now 36 hours or so later he still hasn't returned. Hopefully he's just been listening to his brother who goes out all the time and got a little wunderlust, it being summer and all.

While thinking about her Sinbad reminded me of a book I used to read to my daughter called Jaspar and was all about a house cat who decided to venture out but soon found himself lost with no cat food tree in sight. He did make it back home and I'm hoping sometime today Sinbad will do the same.

Soon be holiday time and time to leave eldest son in charge of cats as well as house. Whilst I know he won't come to any harm I suppose there is still that fear that he may somehow manage to burn the place down with himself in it! Ok I'm being a bit melodramatic there but surely that's a mothers' privilege and if I really thought that would happen I wouldn't leave him.

He will I'm sure survive and what teenager ever starves? As for the cats they might have to go and do a bit of hunting as I'm sure he'll only feed them twice a day and not they're usual on demand. Thankfully though his elder sister lives close by so the moggies will get fed when she visits.

The other thing is the rise in the electricity consumption and the amount of things he'll omit to switch off (or in the case of the tumble dryer, use when the sun is splitting the sky and only put one thing in it!)before going to bed/going out.

I'm sure he'll have a whale of a time whilst we're away, the peace and quiet he'll enjoy will be sublime so maybe I'm doing th ewrong thing, maybe I should stay at home and let him go in my place. Can you imagine it, two whole weeks of the house to yourself. Hmmmmmm bliss!

Saturday was our parish outing to Ardrossan, a place I hadn't visited for at least 13 years. It was a very pleasant surprise to walk on such a clean beach, not the beach I remembered all those years ago when you had to be careful what animal,vegetable or mineral you stood on!

I took great pleasure in walking along the sands, looking through the rock pools and of course padling in the sea which wasn't as cold as some may think. I love the water, being at the sea is an absolute joy to me regardless of season.

With me were my two youngest (9 & 6) but also my eldest at 22 and it was lovely to spend the day of fun with her too. We had a list of "treasure" to find, one of which was a crab (more points for a live one). We did indeed find the live one but after some deliberation we decided to forfeit the extra points and put it back into it's own wee world again and take a much dead one instead.

Later we had games on the beach and whilst we had a fun time, I also found it sad that some and probably most of the children didn't know how to play rounders, a game which I had grown up with and was always great for bringing everyone together no matter what age. Nevertheless I thoroughly enjoyed it and I'm sure everyone else did too, so good to laugh.

One day, in the shark-infested waters of the Caribbean, two prawns
called Justin and Christian are discussing the pressures of being a
preyed upon prawn.
"I hate being a prawn," says Justin. "I wish I were a shark."
Suddenly, a mysterious cod appears. "Your wish is granted," he says.

Instantly, Justin becomes a shark. Horrified, Christian swims away,
afraid his former friend might eat him. As time passes, Christian
continues to avoid Justin, leaving the shrimp-turned-maneater lonely
and frustrated.

So when he bumps into the cod again, he begs the mysterious
fish to change him back. Lo and behold, Justin is turned back into a
prawn.

With tears of joy in his tiny little eyes, he swims back to the reef to
seek out Christian.

As he approaches, he shouts out: "It's me, Justin, your old friend. I've
changed... I've found Cod. I'm a prawn again, Christian."

.

Decided to go over old ground yesterday and take a walk that I used to do with my now departed friend. It had been a long time since I'd last done it but the enjoyment was still very much there albeit tinged with a bit of sadness as my old girl wasn't with me (or maybe she was).

Must go back again soon.

Last night when I was letting the cat out for the umpteenth time, I noticed a rather large slug on top of my recycling bin and I had to wonder what on earth had possessed it to wend it's weary way up there. Could it be that it is one of a happy band of slugs who seem to enjoy eating any cat food that is left lying outside and knew that sometimes their dishes are put there or is it new to the neighbourhood and heard that this was the place to be? Not to leave it disappointed I gave it a cat biccie which it devoured - is there anything they won't eat?

Although I hate the fact that they can and do eat any unprotected flowers, I also cannot bring myself to blatantly kill them and do find them amusing to watch as their little antennae search out food (I assume)and also wonder what time do they go to bed at?

On Saturday morning I had to make one of the most difficult decisions I've had to make so far in my life and I've no doubt there will be more. My dear old pup, yeah I know she was 14 but she still thought she was a pup, had finally reached the end of her long and I'd like to think happy life. We'd had a scare about 5 weeks ago and she pulled back from that but on Saturday morning when I came downstairs I could see she had had enough.

The poor old soul couldn't even manage to raise a wag of her tail and it took her a few minutes to even raise her head. Anyone who knows her would know that that's definitely not her. So discussions took place, phone calls made, more discussions and then it was up to me - isn't being an adult wonderful, you get to make the decisions.

To have kept her going would have been to keep her alive for all the wrong reasons, non of which would have given her any quality of life. So about eleven thirty a lovely lady vet and nurse came into our home and half an hour later my faithful companion who had been with me through births, death and every emotion I've ever had was gone.

There's now a big empty space (in more ways than one, who knows a small labrador?) but also lots of great memories of her from the eight week pup who timorously came home with me and a few days later was tumbling upside down with the cat to the wall eating, door eating, biker mice from mars eating (I think my son forgave her!), cat food stealer. We had some great walks and she loved the water especially the water with all the mud at the bottom , you can't beat the smell of a hot smelly dog as it dries in the car! Her hearing was incredible, she could hear a biscuit being unwrapped several hundred metres away. A great playmate for the kids and cushion for them too, also helped them see out the window (if they were too small to reach). Great listener, soaker up of tears, always there at the right time with just the right sentiment. No longer will I have that big neck to hug or those soft silky ears to stroke. All food will be safe and the door won't be opened 10 seconds after I've closed it. Feet will also be safe from being crushed as she loved to sleep on everyones feet.

Life just won't be the same again.

Today I am a very happy bunny, having ventured over to Murrayfield yesterday to watch Scotland thoroughly thrash the Baa Baas. I know there will be some who will say it wasn't the strongest Baa Baa side but 66 - 19 is a pretty convincing win in anyone's book. The atmosphere was great and it was wonderful to see Scotland score try after try.

It was a glorious night with the sun shinning brightly for most of the first half. Having seats 5 rows from the front was also wonderful. Anyone who's never been should go and drink in the atmosphere and like us have a wonderful night.