Monday 19 February 2007

Roight.

So, some people may think it is cause for concern, but it really just kind of happened. It was just taking forever, and I was also too lazy to keep going with those teensy tiny needles, and so I bound it off, and now the bear has a new shawl. Made out of lovely multi-coloured pink and purple Danish wool. Pictures would be on here except for that pesky storage thingy that is going on with the 'puter.

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In addition to spontaneous craftiness this weekend, I have also two new friends! One is a silky black kitty who jingle-bells outside my window in a most luridly flirtatious sort of way, until I open the window and pet her as she walks her front paws up the wall, stretchy-like, before flitting away to begin the pantomime again :)

The second, I met on my walk into town to meet Mat Parry yesterday for an afternoon repast at Henry's and a shopping outing to purchase washers for an ingenious engineering idea, but more about that later. So, my map obsession forces me to imprint a map of my surroundings as quickly as possible and so it is necessary to wander in different routes each time. Yesterday's wander led me down one dead end before taking me through a little development in my neighborhood that might be a retirement village or something. It is a community of little terraced bungalows and free-standing houses with a nice central park-ish area in the middle with a pond and tall grasses.

As I wandered through (because the map made it look like there must be an alley through to Unthank Road), a man with binoculars around his neck said, 'Hello' and I said, 'Hello' back. He was looking for a pair of dunnets (cannot find anything online and am prob. wrecking the spelling) that he had just seen, and it turns out he has a sister who lives in Kenner, Louisiana! He walked along with me and showed me the way to the alley; he was born in India, where his father was a regimental officer in a place I did not recognise. He is 66 years old, one of 11 children (!), moved to Britain in 1945 after the war was over and has lived in the development there for 15 years and he and his wife will get to automatically move to one of the bungalows when they cannot manage their house anymore. I do not know his name, but he said I should come through the shortcut anytime :) And so I shall.

So after my hot chocolate in the city centre (well, actually my first one), found washers appropriate size to rig my lamp shade and lamp (which do not go together officially, but they just work better than the shade that came with the base), so now my lamp does not look drunk (the rubber band was just not working any more). Hoorah!

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Today, have decided that I want a Springer Spaniel. It would be pleasant and fun to walk along The Broad amongst the bunnies when the mists are coming over the water and woods as the sun sets.

Here is some interesting history from www.petplanet.co.uk:


All spaniels can trace their origins back to the spaniels of Spain. Up until the 1600's all spaniels were considered as being of the same group of dogs, with various sized dogs in the same litter. The larger of these were the forefathers of today's English Springer Spaniel. In 1892 the Kennel Club of Great Britain recognised Cocker and Springer spaniels as separate breeds even though they sometimes appeared in the same litter. This was soon stopped by the two breed clubs and a standard conformation was made of each breed. The Kennel Club of Great Britain granted breed recognition in 1902; the American Kennel Club granted recognition in 1927. This breed is of the oldest sporting gundogs. Their original purpose was for finding and springing game for the net, falcon or greyhound. Nowadays they are used to find, flush and retrieve game for the gun.
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In religious news, several primates in the Anglican Communion in Africa (I think I am getting the organisational details correct) have released a statement regarding their decision not to attend a Eucharist during General Synod, delineating further the division that The Episcopal Church (USA) is setting between itself (well, there is also dissent in the US as well) and much of the rest of the Communion.

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Additionally, I have begun a real-person sized shawl in pink and purple Danish yarn...

2 comments:

Matthew said...

Ahhhh, an inveterate twitcher.
I think he was refering to the Dunnock (must have been the accent, his not yours)
http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/d/dunnock/index.asp
Over to other animals...ran with a Springer Spaniel last week and I can assure yo that they live up to their name. Half dog/half tigger.

Bonnie Blue in Wales said...

Many thanks, Mr. Matthew! This display of twitcher knowledge is an intriguing insight into your weekends...

And, Springers -- bouncy, trouncy, pouncy, flouncy fun-fun-fun-fun-FUN! Hoorah!
(from Winnie-the-Pooh, the movie in case you are not fully indoctrinated into children's film by this time.)