Happy Christmas Everyone!

Please...lovely snow, stop falling:)  It's not so nice anymore...

We've had quite enough snow now, these photos were taken on Tuesday after a bit of a thaw and we've now had so much more since then in our little village.   Flipping heck... Enough is enough I say!

Hamish has really enjoyed playing in it when it was this deep but since we've had even more, I think even he has had enough of it.

It's getting a bit deep for his little legs, and springing about in it for too long seems to be hard work for him now.

I was playing chase the snowballs with him, when we came in I realised he had brought some snowballs in with him, they had got so caught in his fur I couldn't remove them.  How did he pick that lot up?

I thought it was a matter of waiting for them to melt, but...

He decided to eat them off... what a mess!

I hope you have all managed to finish all your shopping, and are over the worst of the prep so you that can enjoy the next few days.  If you are travelling visiting family I hope you have a safe journey.

We finally managed to get our food shopping done yesterday, as it snowed heavily again on Tuesday night, I thought we may be eating whatever we could find in the freezer over Christmas, but by lunchtime the road was a little better after having the sun on it.  It was actually a lovely winter's day, but not nice to have to drive on the roads as they are. 

I did forget tin foil and icing sugar.  I'm sure we really can manage without both.  I picked up a tip about grinding caster or granulated sugar into a powder to make icing sugar so as the weather is horrid again today, I'm sure I'll still be able to make the brandy butter and dust the mince pies:)  There's probably a lot worse that I've forgotten.

Another top tip, don't live in a village that doesn't have a corner shop!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, thank you for all your great comments and support for our blog since I started it this year, it's become another wonderful hobby, and it has been lovely meeting and getting to know new people through it.

I also hope you will join us here for our blog hop and awards that starts on Sunday.  We will be starting at 11am, bring a mince pie and something warming to drink with you and join in for as long as you like. 

It will be lasting a week, there are 16 brilliant prizes to win too, so do pop in whenever you can, do the blog hop and also take part in the awards.  Don't be shy, it'll be great if you introduce yourself so we can get to know you too, especially with the awards!

Jill

PS:  I will be back later with a short post to announce the winner's of the blog candy giveaway no.3!

A lovely day

I've had a wonderful day, shared with the ladies at the workshop today. We had a great time, and our hands told a tale at the end, it certainly was a messy hands day!! They made lots of background papers with various techniques with the Starburst Stains for the books they were making, some stamping, detail painting and staining other bits and pieces too. I'm hoping they will share some photos from today with us here.

They had travelled from Lincoln so it has been a very long day for them, we ran out of time to get the books completed, it would have been nice to have played all evening too, but I think we were all flagging a bit by chucking out time today, certainly a craft until you drop kind of day!

From the pages that were finished, I could see they are all looking fab. Hope we can do it again another time, maybe next time we can make it a weekend:)

Hope everything goes well for you on Monday Laura and that you are back on you feet quickly, also thanks for driving the ladies to Skipton today and hope you are not too shattered from the driving. Thank you Karen, Laura, Rose, Sue and Yvonne, I really enjoyed your company and am looking forward to seeing all those finished books at Stamp Magic!

Thank you everyone for your comments on yesterday's post. I'm really looking forward to this busy month of crafting! I'm hoping to make a start on cards for the first C & C show tomorrow, so is it normal Sunday stuff, ironing and housework etc. Or is it crafting, yes, you guessed it, crafting is the priority!

Poor long suffering OH, Ian, has lugged 4 crates of crafting stuff to the shop today in case I needed anything (and I didn't) and lugged it all back home tonight. He's also in for more household chores this month, plus all the packing for the telly etc, so if you see him at Port Sunny or the Doncaster show, please give him a nice smile:) He deserves it!!

It is a really wild night here, it's blowing a gale, poor Hamish doesn't like too much wind as it makes his ears flap about too much, so all he wants is out and back in asap tonight. For a crazy Springer Spaniel he can be wise sometimes, he knows his home comforts, it's back to being cosy in front of the fire now that summer is over. The big softy!!

Anyway, enough waffle for now.

Enjoy your weekend.

Jill

Something silly...World Record - Cream Cracker Eating

We usually hide treats around the living room for Hamish to find in the evening but, as we were in a silly kind of mood after getting home from the Harrogate show, Ian decided to do something different.

The (human) world record was set at 49.15 seconds on 29 October 2002 by Ambrose Mendy.

Hamish did it last night in 45 seconds!! Crumbs included:) Could this be a world record for a dog?

Bees, Moles and Gardens

We have a large garden (more like a field), which consists mainly of grass and is not the normal neat and tidy garden with pretty flowerbeds, more like you would expect of a Yorkshire hillside. Weather permitting Ian spends his summer time mowing it.

As it had been so wet, he wasn't able to do it and it got longer and longer. By the time it was getting somewhere near dry enough to mow, Ian had second thoughts about doing it. Now was it because of all the bees, buttercups and wildflowers, the insects and other wildlife like birds, hedgehogs and frogs, or was it even the mole hills the mower bumped into?

He said he felt like a murderer! We have hundreds and hundreds of bees (honey and bumble) in the garden, I don't know the name of the shrub (it's an evergreen with red berries), but they love it, and create quite a buzz around it.

Hamish just gets lost in the garden now... much more fun for him like this! Great to spring around in.

Ian says, "save the bees!"

Is it a wildlife haven or a lazy gardener? What do you think?

Jill

Ears Hamish

Here's Hamish having a springabout on Haworth moor, I just love seeing his ears flying around like that, they are like his little wings! But there again he is a little angel:)

Hamish

This is our Springer Spaniel Hamish, (he is Scottish and was already named when we got him). It's probably why he doesn't understand what we are saying to him sometimes!

He was a pup in the photos but as he has just celebrated his 3rd birthday this month I thought I'd let you see him.

I must take some more photos of him, but anyone with a Springer Spaniel will know it is hard to keep them still long enough to take photos of them! He got himself into a right mess in the garden and had to have his first bath, he loves water as long as it's a pond, river or lake and not in a plastic tub!

He's a real happy chappy, but can be quite a handful!!!