Today's the day!

It's here already, today it's officially summer. I rather tentitively peeked out the curtains this morning and was pleasantly surprised by a not bad day - it's (so far!) not raining and when I let Meg out there was no icey blast. Not bad at all.

News in brief -the barn is still in bits, the ground is still too wet to dig foundations or plough, but progress will be made today when I uproot the strawberries and move them out the way ready for the muck spreading, fertilizing etc. after which they will be rehomed in a lushous bed ready to produce a bumper crop.

This year I'm hoping for more of this



and less of this




Yes, that was our car last summer, if you can call it that, flash floods and all.

The exception that proves the rule...

You know what I said about spam, it being a "count me out" thing? Well my step sister (God she'll kill me for that!) sent me this and it made me laugh out loud so thought I'd share seeing as it doesn't count as spam. It's my blog and my rules. Ner-ner-ner-ner-ner!

PS This post was brought to you by technical advise from Manic-mommy - is there no end to her talents?

Happy Easter

HAPPY EASTER!

The holidays are here again - one day down, 17 to go!

I am looking forward to havingsome fun really......no really, I am, honest!

And we should care because?

There are British services in danger zones around the globe, the American economy is in melt down, we're not far behind and what's the top news story today? How much Heather Mills got in divorce settlement and what the judge thought of her.

A true shout at the telly moment.

After Thomas

I finally got round to watching this film which was on TV recently. It's about a family who have an autistic son and how a dog called Thomas helps break through the barriers between worlds. I don't usually watch this kind of thing as the portrayal of autistic family life is seldom even remotely acurate or even ball park. All that happens is I get cross and shout at the telly - like that's going to make any difference! Sorry, I digress.

Watching After Thomas I was pleasantly surprised to see the accuracy of tantrums, the dreaded shoe run, the reaction of by-standers - or should that be gaupers? It was all so familiar. Even down to the reactions of extended family members. I laughed, I (almost) cried, I truely identified with the mum character played by Keely Hawes. One of the best lines which I hope to remember should the occasion warrent it was
(by stander with daughter age about 11) "Disgusting behaviour!"
mum's response "What? All this lot staring at a disabled child? Yes it is disgusting"
Beats my response to "Can't you control your child?" of "No can you?"

Got any good ones I can add to my repertoire?

Now I'm getting quietly excited...

Why? Because our barn arrived (in horizontal hail) and the nice man with the big trailer moved the door up from the bottom of the field so it's all in one place - in bits. But more to the point, and I feel I should be whispering this, it hasn't rained significantly for two days.

Hot-hubby has almost finished the propagator boxes and I am about to plant something more interesting than wellies in mud. It's tricky, because once I plant we only have a set number of days before it has to go somewhere which means we have to make significant progress outside which means our current state of almost drying out has to continue and in fact pick up the pace a little. We have 20 tonnes of poo, half a tonne of NPK (that's a fertilizer) and about 300kg of lime to get on to the ground and funnily enough I would rather not have "help" from Scrumpy and Bear who start Easter holidays far too soon.

On other news - my new best blog-buddy Julie Buxbaum has donated a signed copy of her new book "The opposite of love" for our fund raiser. How generous is that? Got a book you want plugged? It'll cost you a signed copy but I'll flaunt it recklessly!

One year down, many more to go

Today, 15th March, marks the first anniversary of the start of life without Ollie. He is still sorely missed and Scrumpy still says "Ollie disappeared, Ollie sad" on a regular basis.

We chose to explain the loss as "Ollie finished" as this would mean something to Scrumpy and Bear. How else do you explain death to children? Hard enough but when you have to navigate autism as well it gets tricky. Very tricky.

For those who were not lucky enough to know my little boy he was the most lovely dog ever. Bear could twang his ears and wag his tail for him and that was just fine by him. They loved each other, and much as I would like to think he was my dog I know, in truth, his heart belonged to Bear.

Here he is again, being good and posing

This could be a competition....

What?? I'm sitting this one out - it wasn't me!!

So, got a cuter dog than me? I don't think so! Regrettably we're talking past tense with Ollie, more on that later, but he definately wasn't doing a rain dance!

Open Message

To who ever is doing the rain dance

You can stop NOW.

Quit jigging

I need at least a week of dry weather - two would be better - I am not happy.

So why the picture? This rain is SO depressing. I am not happy, I was looking for a dancing picture and found this - it made me smile and being an otter he most likely is doing a rain dance!

Having a bad day?

"As we face the next round of tribulations, there are distinct signs that I am turning slightly batty."

(Lady Black, wife of the fraudster)

Couldn't have said it better myself!


"At the very tiny level described by quantum mechanics, our universe is like a crazy dance of waves, tangoing to myriad beats."

(Prof Stephen Hawking)

So that'll be me with two left feet then...

Happy Mother's Day!

Did you forget your mum today? You did? Naughty you! It's Mother's day to day and all Mum's should be spoilt rotten or at least as much as I was anyway!

I had hand made cards

Bear made me a jam tart in the true tradition of Mother's day - OK it should have been cake for historic accuracy but come on, she made it and it was diet bustingly good!

I had breakfast in bed with a Yummy Mummy mug around my coffee and no, funnily enough there are no photos of that!

I'm having a great day watching the snow with Scrumpy, chasing Bear with the scissors yet again and above all I feel loved.

If it's not Mother's day where you are call her anyway, hug your kids anyway and have a treat because today is a special day.