Mr Snuffles

We've been adopted by a mangy moggy we have named Mr Snuffles.  He arrived starving, very thin, full of fleas, sniffing and snuffling with cat flu.  Poor mite couldn't smell anything and was either a stray or totally lost because his sense of smell had disappeared. 

He's made himself right at home and after a few visits to the vet's he is well on the mend and putting on weight rapidly. The vet has advised us to have him neutered, poor thing, and that will happen in two weeks time, after his vaccinations are done.

His sense of smell has returned and we thought he might make his way home, if he had a home, but he keeps returning for food and affection. We'd be totally gutted to lose him now as he has stolen our hearts totally!

This is his favourite place to sleep, which is good as it gives me a good excuse to lounge around occasionally!

Sadly, Mr Snuffles passed away this year (2018).  He brought us lots of love and happiness.  We will miss him very much 😢

Wasting Time

Wrote this in 2010. How things have changed in the world since then... 

Well, that's the school holidays finished and did I do anything I'd planned to do? No!  As usual...  I began a new Creative Writing course, did the first two hours of the thirty hour course then stopped.  I Studied A Level Philosophy curriculum to help some lovely people at school, but not in as much depth as I'd intended.  The weather stopped me doing as much in the garden as I'd wanted, but I could have done more.  I never got to County Sligo to unearth some family history, nor did I visit Wellington in Shropshire to do the same.

We did take Sarah and Ethan to Scarborough for a few days but never made Blackpool or Southport and didn't get to Diggerland!  Got to go to Diggerland before Ethan's obsessiveness ends!

Nice day in the garden for Ethan's birthday while his mum spent her birthday in London.  Tim's extending our back garden to help keep out weeds coming from the back field, hence the uplifted fence panel, but there's a steep drop down to the bank of the stream.  He's built me a staircase to heaven using old railway sleepers.  Bit tricky getting down there even with them!

I also had a great time with two old band mates Martin and Bill.  We are all proud owners of Martin guitars and I decided we should be called "The Three Martineers".  Wish I could play as well as they do, or sing as well as Martin does.  I can't even claim to be the beauty of the bunch :-)  A rose between two thorns I certainly am not. What do you think?  Please don't answer if you're not going to be kind.

The Three Martineers:

Mine's more shapely than the dreadnoughts owned by the boys. And mine is "diminished" by being an electro acoustic, something Martin believes should never have been produced by the great guitar brand!

And yes one of my intentions was to improve my playing by beginning to play every day for at least an hour - did I do it?  What do you think!

What I did do, which was not really on the planned agenda that failed, was to spend more time investigating the new atheism that is being attacked by many Americans. I listened to many of the debates on YouTube and have decided that I am a humanist.  But I don't want this to turn into another form of religion - more research to do on the topic I think.  Science has caused many problems albeit not as many as religion; but why do we always have to set things in opposition to each other?  The debate shouldn't be science versus religion, there are good and bad sides to both.  I hate fundamentalism in all forms and I believe it should be down to personal choice, not tradition, if one is to join a religion. 

Must stop getting on that soapbox!

In 2017 I now believe I should have got on it much sooner...