Angels of The North

This sculpture is called The Angel Of The North. It caused much controversy a few years ago when it was erected in the North East alongside the A1 trunk road. I have always rather liked it in pictures. Seeing it 'in the flesh' is even better. I am not sure how to describe how I feel when i see it. Awe struck maybe. I took these too pictures from a car moving fast. Not bad. I hasten to add that I was not driving.

This is Olwen. I 'know' Olwen from the knitting lists. I met her yesterday in her house. I met someone as nuts about knitting as me! She has many machines and loads and loads of yarn-enough for a shop. Just like me!

Olwen also hand knits.

Her home is amazing. Built around 1890 and with the original features. On 3 floors and jam packed with her life-books,ornaments,photo's, pictures, yarn, etc. I would love to have stayed ages and been really nosy and could easily have nosed for weeks!

I got Olwen to sit at the machine and ignore the camera. It worked well I think.

Thank you very much Olwen. You made me feel welcome. I was very pleased to meet you.

Good Morning

The sun is shining.

According to the weather people, this is God's equivalent of pretending there is nothing in the hand hidden behind his back.

They forecast more and more rain. But Sunday will be dry. So they say....

We have had loads and people have been flooded and lives lost.

However, tomorrow there is a dog show in Kelso, Scotland and nothing (almost) stops dog people going to dog shows. ( I do hope that my 2nd visit to Scotland will be less disappointing . On the first visit the only 2 men I saw in kilts were about 90 yrs old. )

Soooo.....I am off to Hartlepool today. Yes I know Hartlepool isn't Scotland, much less Kelso, and today is not tomorrow but if you are patient, all will be clear.

My friend Linda lives in Hartlepool. Her house is exactly 200 miles form mine. (Thank Garmin for the sat nav. At least for my Street Pilot 2720.) Kelso is 100 miles from her house.

Kelso is 285 miles from my house and I had considered leaving here at 2am to get there but thought that as I had paid the high entry fee, and would be paying about £60 ($120) in diesel, I would quite like to be able to show my dogs when I get there. (scuse me-bathroom break now.....back feeling much relieved thank you) Not to mention that I would like to able to drive home without killing myself or other road users.

So staying with Linda seemed the sensible option. I did it before in May when there was a dog show in Edinburgh. Cold and wet and windy it was. The show not Linda.

On that occasion Linda cooked me a lovely meal and behaved like a lady. No seduction attempt. Hopefully tonight I shall be just as safe. I think my walking sticks are a great help in protecting my virtue. Prior to me using those, I was really very unsafe from people's passions. I tell you. being irresistible is a curse. Don't wish it upon yourself. Be satisfied with what you were born with. Being gorgeous is not a joy but a sorrow. No one cares about your mind or your soul.

Oh dear, where was I?

Oh yes, Kelso. Not been there before either. Our judge is Zena Thorn Andrews, she who judged Best In Show at Cruft's this year, 2007. I have no idea what I think as I have not been under her before (wipe that thought now). I'll tell you what i think later....

Kelso by all accounts is a beautiful place and some people I know have been there and they have told me so and suggested all sorts of places to see.

Of course they are not dog people or they would not be so ******* stupid! I am going to a dog show. This means I am showing a dog. I do not have time for sight seeing!

Plus I can't get around, other than a minute or so walking up and down that ring, without a wheelchair and I will have no helper and are you blind? Have you noticed the sticks? The legs that don't work well? How long have you known me?

How am I going to get to that beautiful restaurant up that hill? Are my legs going work just because I am in Scotland and we all know that Scotland is the best country in the world and my legs will be miraculously healed the minute I cross the border. Not only that but the show committee will alter arrangements for the dog show to allow me the time to go and have lunch at this place. I am special you see so I am sure they will oblige me.

I digressed again...so easy to do when one multitasks the way I do..during the writing of this I have had a good scratch, fed the dogs, let them out, had a good scratch, drunk a coffee, been to the loo, seat up, checked my banking, had a good scratch, saved a couple of lost souls, healed another couple, had another good scratch ( I think I need to spray myself) and now this is the end for now. Even I can only do so much and I need to rest.

Spoke Too Soon

I really ought to know better. Having boasted about not having had an acid attack for 10 weeks, I had a bad one this morning. Frightened me as it was so sudden and painful.

Oh, and I can't believe I need to say so, but the 'The Facts About Dripping' post was very much tongue in cheek.(ie not serious, humourous, a joke, not to be read as gospel, not be taken so seriously. Hope that clears it up!)

The Facts About Dripping

Okay, here are the facts about dripping.

Women are always complaining about it.

First off they complain about the seat and lid being left up. Why? Just what is the big deal? Is it more aesthetically pleasing to have the seat and lid down? It is just a loo for god's sake!

Now the dripping. Let me tell you, it may seem a really simple thing but it isn't. It is in fact a very difficult thing to pee with entirely good aim and with no dripping. In fact it is impossible.

First of all, the instrument thru which one pee's is not always str8. Yes you read write. Sometimes it gets scrunched up, or it is leaning to the left or right. Natural one's, those that haven't had the end cruelly and unnecessarily hacked off at some point, can be even more challenging as one has no idea which direction the flow will go until it starts, by which time it is too late...

Then there is the middle of the night pee. It is dark. One is still asleep but one gets up anyway and sleepwalks to the loo. (Now you know why the seat needs to be up -you're expecting too much of a sleeping man.) One pee's and goes back to bed. No, sleepwalking men do not look for any spillage. They don't even notice if the seat is up or down....

Then there is the morning, just awake, pee. You try pointing downwards with an instrument that resolutely points upwards! And no, having just woken up, we do not have time to wipe down the seat or the walls....in fact, if like me, one is very short sighted, one can't even see the drips.

Besides, when one is done, it is time for the hand shake. It really is too much to expect these flying drips to be well aimed. And one doesn't want drips dripping into ones' clothes or down one's leg.

So, ladies, now you know. Please be more compassionate and understanding. You have no excuse now. You have been told. You have had it fully explained.

Peeing is NOT that easy. If you had to shake your fanny whenever you pee'd , I am sure you'd be a tad more understanding. Mind you for all I know, maybe you do shake. Perhaps that is why you spend so long in there and prefer to go in pairs. The second person needed to steady you after the shake?

Edit: as reminded by AJ (see comments section in the post above this one) I always used to keep the loo seat down when I bred Persian cats. Never forgot after having a couple land in it. Wet Persian pussy running around the house is not funny. Oh, okay it is but the clearing up isn't.

All Going Swimmingly

I am up to half a mile a time now. That is 32 lengths. I have done that 4 times this week(Sat, Tue, Wed, and Thur).

I don't get at all breathless now but i do take my GTN spray before I get in the pool.

The relief I get from the bone pain is wonderful. My upper body hurts for the first 10 or so lengths but then stops.

Getting out of the pool is not so easy. My legs just won't do as I wish them to. Yet I have not fallen over and my walking stick is only a couple of feet from the stairs I use to get out.

My weight has started to shift again. I lost nearly 100lbs 3 years ago and have kept it off. I still need to lose another 30.

PS: since I have stopped smoking ( 10 weeks now) I have not had any acid attacks and am not taking the Protium. I am still taking anti-inflammatories which we thought was the cause.....

Aran Work

The yarn is Jaeger Shetland, 80% wool 20% Alpaca. My own design on 4.5mm needles. I have frogged this so many times now, but am happy with this final simple, design.
This is part of a sock I have designed. It might well be frogged and re - knit with a 2.5mm instead of the present 2.25mm. The yarn is an 80% wool 20% nylon. Beige colour.

How To Not What To

I have said a few times on this blog that I think the teaching of religion, other than comparative, to children is child abuse and of the worst kind.

I certainly know that being taught what to think was far more damaging to me than the physical and sexual abuse.

The thinking took many years to overcome.

Apart from being taught to believe without question, which in itself is abusive, but also being taught that faith is a virtue , an even worse abuse. Any questions were met with 'that is the Devil making you question'.

I was taught that the evidence that the world is NOT as is written in the bible, was planted there by Satan. Yes, that is right, the fossil records, were planted by Satan to make us turn away from the truth!

Of course as a thinking adult person, this is clearly stupid. To a child it is not. Adults are teaching this to them so they believe it. Why wouldn't they?

Children are hot wired to believe adults, their parents, without question. Why? Because it would save their lives. An adult yelling 'stop' just as a child is about to step over a cliff would be taken heed of without question by the child. If not, the child would die and genes would be lost. It's a survival thing.

Adults, parents, know this even if they haven't thought of it in those terms. It is why adults teach their religious beliefs to children. They know that as an adult, they are likely to carry on believing the crap they were taught no matter the consequences.

The Middle East. The American Taliban, Afghan Taliban. Suicide Bombers. It WORKS!!!!

The Amish. The Hasidim . Other cults. It WORKS.

It is why otherwise intelligent beings, doctors, teachers, lawyers, Presidents, Prime Ministers believe the most idiotic stuff and billions suffer as a result.

Power, anyone?

The right thing to do, that will lead to peace for all, but not to POWER for a few, is to teach children HOW to think. Not what to think.

Trip 97

This was in New Hampshire, if my memory serves me well. Now, doesn't this look like the Overlook Hotel from Stephen King's The Shining?
This was the Chinese food place I saw in the distance as I was driving along Rte 7 from Ottawa to Toronto. I think it was rte 7 anyway. Although you can't see any here, there was snow all over the place. This road seemed to go on forever in a str8 line from Ottawa to Toronto.
This is Montreal. I drove into Montreal the night before in a snow blizzard. God knows where the snow went.
This was Vermont. I think.

The American Taliban

Oh my oh my, here they go again. The American Taliban has opened a 'creation museum' in Kentucky.

If their ideas were not so evil and their desires for the rest of us so monstrous, they would be funny.

For people who 'believe in God' it apparently has not occurred to them to use their most precious gift -their brain. Or perhaps their God didn't bless them with one.

These bright sparks, the American Taliban, believe that the teaching of evolution is what caused the Columbine tragedy.

"In groping for answers to this and other tragedies, more and more people are expressing surprise and concern at the increasing glee with which many teenagers approach depictions of violence. However, this fixation with death is hardly surprising given that most public schools in Western nations now teach that violence and death are ‘natural’ evolutionary mechanisms that have operated with chance processes to produce man over millions of years.

Having been told since childhood that man is just an animal, that death and violence are a natural part of evolution, and that ‘only the fittest survive,’ it is no wonder that this generation of young people are wallowing in utter hopelessness. Even when they hear ‘Jesus loves you,’ many either do not understand what this can possibly mean in a ‘world of death and randomness,’ or it makes them more angry and bitter that such a beautiful possibility seems denied by the ‘facts’ of science. Many of these people are ‘walking time-bombs,’ without fear of any judgment after death, and primed to explode in anger and hatred at any time." Link

Is it not surprising that the rest of the world fears the USA? Rightly or wrongly, it fears the USA above all? Maybe we have no need to.

However when the likes of Jesse Helm are voted into government, when the likes of Pat Robertson spouts his evil and is cheered by millions of USA citizens and made rich by them. When the evil Phelps is free to spread his filth and his children and grandchildren abused by this evil without any legal reproach.

When Matthew Shepherd is crucified and barely a hair is turned.

Is it any wonder the rest of the world has reservations about this country that professes to be the leader of the free world, yet is not free itself.

Where the American Taliban is gaining more and more power and their desire is to take freedom away from all who do not think as they do.

Evil is right in their faces, screaming, LOOK!!! LOOK!!! EVIL HERE. LOOKING RIGHT AT YOU. And the majority of nearly 300 million are deaf and blind.

No wonder they teach fundamentalist views to innocent children. They know that if they do, they will corrupt them and warp them in such a way that it will be extremely difficult for them to ever think or feel for themselves, and the American Taliban will have it's way.

The teaching of religion, other than it's history, is an appalling abuse of children. No matter what the religion or how 'liberal' it appears to be. Children are not 'Catholic', 'Jewish', 'Hindu' , Muslim'. They are children and only abusive adults label them as such.

Unless people find the courage to stand firm, to not allow themselves to told what to think, to not allow reason to become a dirty word, to not allow tolerance, compassion, love to become qualities to be spit upon, this great country will be sunk and maybe take the rest of us down with it.

I am well aware that not all Xtians, Muslims, Jews, Hindu's etc are fundamentalist. Just because some follow a watered down version doesn't make it any the less corrupting.

The X - Files

Okay I am well aware that I am way behind, so no need to tell me so.

I watched the final episode last night. I am sad about it. Pity there is no more.

I never got into it when it was on the TV but did see a dvd that belonged to someone else and I decided I liked it. Of course by that time it had already finished as a series.

Amazon were selling the whole 9 series at a very good price so I bought it a few months ago. Now I have seen the whole 9 years worth.

I think the whole thing was very clever. Very well made. Very well acted. And I think the reason it worked so well was because it was taken so seriously by all involved. No matter how out there the episode subject was, it was acted as if this was real and not out there. Which made it excellent.

The writer / creator was very clever. How he did this I'll never know. The last double episode wrapped it all up and explained it all. Thank fully! I was beginning to think it may end without explaining!

Because I watched 9 years of it in a few months, the change in the appearance of the actors was marked. Gillian Anderson developed into a beautiful woman. I love her giggle. David Duchovny - yes he is good looking and improved with age though not my cup of tea. I am sure he will be disappointed to know that...

There was great humour in these programs. There was also great drama. Some of them moved me to tears, others to laughter. Often in the same episode.

Surprisingly for me, the one thing I have never liked is movies or programs where much of the drama takes place in the near dark. It really didn't bother me which is just as well as most of the 9 series did take place in near darkness.

I shall miss The X-Files. I shall miss Mulder and Scully.

Strange that I would miss two non existent people but there we are. I have read books and later wondered to myself what the characters were up to now! Now either that says that the author was really good or I am prone to delusions.....

Oh and Ms Anderson lives and works in the UK and she naturally speaks with an English accent. I can't recall if this is because she is originally English or if it was because she was brought up here. (Okay, I just went and looked it up-she was born in Chicago and raised in Peurto Rico and England, and then settle din Grand Rapids, Michigan.)

Bonnie Gave Me An idea

Bonnie's accusation of this blog being full of political diatribe has given me an idea-to fill my blog with diatribe!

Well 'fill' is a bit strong, as I need room for my dogs, my knitting and my other rants .

My target though will be religion, not politics. Religion is at the root of most of the suffering and evil in this world. It is hardly surprising when the 3 major religions all have the same root and all are filled with the most terrible role models and evil acts and a God so wicked only a human being could have made him up! It promotes racism, genocide, child abuse, woman abuse, murder, cultism, fear, and idiocy.

So when the mood takes me, I shall be giving examples of such evil str8 out of the Book.

Just remember, this blog is mine, I don't write it to please you. I don't write it to be liked. If someone pointing out the idiocy and evil inherent in your religion bothers you....well....good....maybe it will bother you so much that you will set your fear aside and really think....

Just a little morsel---ever wondered why there is so much animosity between the Xtian Fundamentalists(especially of the USA )and the Islamic Fundamentalists of the Middle East and the Fundamentalist Jews?

Because they are pretty much the same. Each of their 'books' teaches them to hate the other. Each are filled with stories of such immorality and evil it boggles the mind. And the followers of all all three perform intellectual somersaults to justify their incomprehensible beliefs which lead to such evil as we witness daily and is in very real danger of destroying us all.

Religion is clearly NOT our moral compass and human beings are clearly able to be good and moral despite the teachings of religion which tells us that without their evil doctrines human beings would be evil!!!!!

Sad To Report

I am sorry to say I no longer keep Dachshunds. It pains me to say so and have avoided even thinking about it let alone telling it on here.

Dachshunds have a thing for grooming each other. In the process they chew off great clumps of hair. Not so much of a problem on each other but a dangerous problem on the Lhasa Apso that I also keep.

Now, Tilly came very close to choking herself to death, or getting a blocked intestine. Fortunately for her after much retching and running around she managed to bring up a HUGE lump of matted together icky Lhasa Apso hair. (If you look, you would swear that a razor did the job of removing the coat)

We started to keep the LA and Dax apart. this soon palled and was clearly unfair to both sets of dogs, especially Tilly the Dax who had to kept alternately in a cage.

I had already parted with her offspring and Alice. I couldn't part with her. She was 5 and adorable. One day, just the right home came up and after soul searching realised this was the perfect home for Tilly and the right thing to do by her. She would be totally free again.

With heavy heart I let her go. I warned that Dax were one person dogs, that she would pine, that she wouldn't eat, she would howl. And if she could speak she would beg to be brought back to her man.

Well.....that first night, she laid herself across the lap of the new man in her life and watched tv.
She stuffed her face with food. She played with the child and promptly made her self comfy in that armchair with the man again.

Ungrateful, fickle, little madam she turned out to be.....

Let's Be Friends

If you like aaah factor pictures go here

Flashback

Wow! That took me by surprise.

I had dragged myself out of bed, let the dogs out, fed the dogs, got my coffee and came up here to the PC. I needed to go to the bathroom. On the way, I got a sharp flash of pain in my right side.

The next thing I knew I was back reliving a particularly horrid and vivid scene from my childhood. For a few moments I thought I was going to collapse. I felt the grief and pain rise up to swamp me. It then all settled down again and that was that.

It doesn't matter how long ago it was, how well and together and happy one is now, this stuff still happens!

Yes, it happens less frequently, less severely but it still happens.

The worst is when one is out - at the shops, the pool, a dog show....

Gosh it just dawned on me....the pool.....no wonder I have had troubled sleep and nightmares this last week since I started swimming again....I hadn't given it any conscious thought....but the pool will bring stuff up for me. My flashback had nothing to do with the pool, in fact there is no trauma related to the pool but the swimming and pools are very much a part of my past. So my mind has been going back just because of the link between the pool and my memories.

Trip 97

Somewhere in New Hampshire.
Niagra.


On Rte 7 (I think it was called that) en route between Ottawa and Toronto.

Trip 97

This was either on the way up or on the way down the White Mountains, New Hampshire.
I am fairly certain this was Maine.
This was taken somewhere in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, I think. I found it amusing.

Fortissima Colori

This a sock made from Fortissima Colori Socka Color ( no. 9048 ). I knit it over 76 sts using 3.25 for the cast on, 2mm for the ribbing and 2.25mm for the main sock. This is slightly thicker at 420m per 100gm than Opal which is 425m per 100gm. So i am glad I knit over 76sts!

I really like the handle of this yarn. I also really like this colourway. The yarn is perhaps slightly harsher than Opal but that adds to it's visual appeal I think.
My own take on the Sherman Heel again. I never know when I start whether I shall do a gusset and flap or this.

Eight And A Half Weeks

It has been 8.5 weeks since I stopped smoking.

Do I feel better? No, not physically.

Am I glad to be out of the control of a substance? Very much so! I LOVE not being controlled by my addiction to nicotine. I am free of it at last.

Now I have no vices left all, not even drink, unless you count w*****g.

I have discovered that people who smoke STINK!!!! Seriously, they smell awful.

Not smoking has played havoc with my taste buds. No, it has not made everything taste better at all! It has made some things taste better, other things taste awful and caused me to spend ages trying to get the taste I like!

Coffee - didn't taste strong enough. Then I realised that it was the milk, as it has lactose in it, that I needed to cut back on. I only used a little anyway! Mind you even my morning black coffee is stronger now. I adore coffee and have one of these bean to cup machines. Wonderful. I drink real coffee or decaff depending on time of day and whether or not I have had my quota of 2 real ones.

I stole a spoon full of John's Baked Beans. YUK! Ickity ick! So sweet!

I made a stir fry chicken with chilly. Too HOT!!!!! Yyet I had used only one green chilly where I would normally had used 2 or 3.

I can't eat my favourite cheese at all now -Gruyere- far too salty.

However, am I sorry? NO WAY. Not smoking is wonderful.

Yes, every now and then I could murder for a fag. But it passes, usually very quickly. My worst times, for some reason, are at dogs shows.

I did 20 lengths at the pool last evening. I have dropped 3 lbs. I am very very tired today, in fact fatigued and in pain, especially my hips, so will not do anything today and will go to the pool tomorrow. Being in the water is lovely. Of course it really helps re the arthritis in my joints and spine but I forgot I also have a neurological problem and that effects my muscles and coordination and tiredness just makes it worse. It isn't tiredness, it is fatigue which is worse than pain in my book. And if you don't know the difference between feeling tired and being fatigued, be thankful.

Speed / Yarn Harlot

I was sent this link ( Yarn Harlot ) to show me someone who knits really fast.

Until I saw this video, I had thought I was a slow knitter. It seems I am a really fast knitter! Cos I knit faster than the YH appears to on this video. You could knock me over with a feather. I seriously had no idea I knit fast.

Also, this video shows how I knit. Almost. I do not have my middle finger up in the air like the YH does. I have the yarn over the tip of my index finger. However, my movements are the same. I am just not giving the finger all the time ;-)

(oops) I Did It Again

Fourteen times to be exact. All at once. All this evening. All in the pool.

This time I took my GTN first. It really was better.

I was tempted to do more than 14 lengths but was grown up about it and didn't.

I love the way it feels in the water. And love the way my skin feels now.

Amazingly, not in a good way, I can feel how heavy I become, and the pain creeping back, as I pull myself up the stairs and out of the water.

However, the swimming itself is lovely. Heaven in fact.

I Want To Love You Tender

Micah and Shameless

Tantra's Micah and his daughter, Tantra's Shameless both qualified for Cruft's today.

Micah won second place in Post Graduate.

Shameless won first place in Minor Puppy Bitch.

Dog Show

I am up at 2.30am to go to a dog show.

Am about to bath dogs now. So will not be answering emails till Friday night or Saturday.

Weird?

I don't walk my dogs every day. It depends on 1. my pain levels and 2. the weather, rain stops me. When I do walk them it is not at the same time. It is when I can and mostly daily.

I go upstairs and at all sorts of different times. I go and change to go out. The dogs take no notice.

This morning, about 10.30 am I was sitting finishing the Fortissima and I thought to myself;

'I think I will take the dogs out.'

No sooner had I thought it than Nechung woke up, jumped down from her armchair and danced around my feet, making her excited. At the same time joined by Micah, Luna and Shameless.

How do they know? I do not do anything routinely so it isn't that. I only have to think it and they know.

This morning's occurrence isn't a one off. They always do this. They seem to read my mind.

Whatever is going on, it is weird and very clever of them.

Fortissima Socka

This is Fortissima Socka, Cotton Colour, shade 6533. 45% cotton, 42% virgin superwash and 13% nylon.

The handle made this smooth to knit. The sock itself feels really good. I prefer it to Regia Cotton tho to be fair to Regia I did knit that one over 80 sts whereas I knit this one over 72. Still, I prefer the stitches on this yarn.

I did a Continental cast on using 3.25mm, then knit 20 rows of 2 x2 rib using 2mm and the rest was done using 2.25 mm. Magic Loop method ( one long circular needle ).

I bought the yarn here in the UK from THE KNITTING HUT
The heel and gusset. For now this is my favourite. I keep changing my mind. I like the way this fits. It is easy to knit. My previous sock (Opal 1655 Smoke) was knit over more stitches and a Sherman heel and was also knitted to fit, no negative ease. I prefer the fit of this smaller sock.

I DID IT

I did it today at just after midday.

It made me somewhat breathless, but boy it felt good. I took a puff on my GTN just in case. I felt weightless and for that short time, all my joints seemed to stop hurting. I seemed to stop hurting all over. I did feel my muscles. Not exactly pain but I felt them. My eyes got sore and I felt quite wobbly when I had finished and got out.

I did 10 lengths.

I feel really rather pleased with myself.

Strangely, I was dying for a fag when I left. How odd.

Hit By A Lorry (Truck)

Yesterday at Bath, or more precisely in a large field come swamp near Bath, it was rather difficult. Very soggy. At home time, it was extremely difficult to manoeuvre my trolley back to the car.

We got moved out of the tents by request of one of the exhibitors as it had stopped raining and the rings outside looked good. Who was I to object? Even though I was 99% positive that the heavens would open again. And open they did during the class of the woman who made the request....

Micah was placed 4th in his Post Grad class. (Now in the UK we have the TOUGHEST dog show scene anywhere. Whilst in the USA or Europe one my get an entry of 20, we had an entry of 144 yesterday and that is not high.)

Shameless showed her heart out but to no avail and she was thrown out with the rubbish. I knew this was going to happen. No, not because I am psychic but because of this:

Judge: How old is she? 8 months?

Me: Honest and not thinking: no just 6 mths.

Judge pulls face.

As I was walking Shameless for the judge, it dawned on me that he obviously thought her too big, which she aint at 9.75ins. I could have just carried on walking right outside the ring but being a person of integrity(read:cowardly) I did not.

Anyway, of course the judge should never have made such a comment and ranks almost as daft as the stupid stupid stupid judge who bent down and put her face right up to my Micah's nose and kissed it!!!! How completely unprofessional and stupid. Did I say it was stupid? Thankfully Micah is sweet and licked her face but.....

Anyway, it was a fun day, seeing lots of beautiful dogs, and meeting friends and listening quietly to conversations that the people involved in obviously think cannot be heard. Most amusing and often illuminating.

I suppose some might think it odd to spend many hours bathing and grooming, driving long distances in all weather, to stand around for hours in all weather to get 5 mins in the ring in the hopes of getting a card from some person who quite often wouldn't know your breed from any other breed.

So today I feel like I have been run over by a lorry. Rolling out of bed took much longer than usual and I have discovered other parts of my body that hitherto had mercifully kept their presence quiet.

Have to take the litter to be microchipped today.

I am also going to investigate the local swimming pool. I have always adored the water and swimming and it has occurred to me lately that swimming might well do me good. Low impact and feels good. I am concerned about getting in and out of the pool. Actually only out, Getting in will be as easy as falling off a log. Also getting from changing room to pool edge. Floors on such places tend to be slippery.

So I want to go and ask if they have routines or support for cripples. I hope so as I am quite looking forward to swimming again. It only takes a while to get used to the lustful stares and groping once I am in my togs. I can live with it. It has been the bain of my life, as anyone with outstanding looks will confirm.

EDIT: Went to the pool. They have a changing room right next to the pool for the disabled so I only have to walk a couple of feet. They have special stairs for getting out (or in I suppose) and I can use my stick to get there. Also, they have suitable practical times for adults only lane swimming. Might give it a go tomorrow.

Shilpa

This is Tantra's Shilpa. I am keeping her. She will be 7 weeks old on Monday(28th May).

Life Began At 40

I knew it would happen. I have been pondering it for a while. Every time I picked it up and knitted, I kept looking and wasn't sure. I ought to know that when that happens, I am going to change it.
So I ended up frogging an almost complete front of my Aran. I have designed a different one now and will start it again today. I am fairly certain I like this one!

Yesterday was a beautiful day. I sat and read my dog newspapers in the garden with my coffee, then knitted a while and then hung out my hand knitted socks to dry. I got sunburned yet I wasn't out that long.

Had a rough night because of pain. Normally, laying down and sleeping is okay. Especially as I now have a Memory Foam Mattress Topper. These things really do make a difference. However, last night not. Actually that isn't true, without it I'd have been much worse. As it was the pain was just confined to my lower back and hips. Getting up this morning was a lot of fun.

Last night at my meeting, one man is about to lose his home, a woman is losing her 30 year marriage and another is almost bankrupt. It all goes to remind me how lucky how I am to have the life I have.

I know much of this tiredness and pain is because of my Scottish trip. And this Monday I am off to Bath.

Now the specialist tells me I ought not be doing this sort of thing. I think he expects me to sit in my armchair and behave myself. F**k that!!!!

LIFE IS SHORT! And whilst I can still move about, I am going to do just as I please. So what if it hurts? So does keeping still!

For most of my life I was emotionally and mentally crippled which was far far far worse than this is. That prevented me living. That stopped me doing what I wanted to do. That kept me isolated. There is NO WAY I am letting this damn disease stop me living now after I fought so hard to get myself well.

At first, I did stop doing stuff, like a good patient. It didn't take long for me to know that not doing anything did nothing at all to relieve the pain. That my mood went downhill. That I was miserable and bored.

I am very very surprised that I live with this so well. I really thought that I'd be the type of person who would take to his bed and give up. Feel sorry for myself and live the rest of my days on my pity pot and expect to be nursed 24 / 7!

Far from it. I have found I am not like that at all. Not only that, but am not that good at being taken care of or asking for help! I am learning.

No matter how bad this can be sometimes, it is nothing compared to the emtional / mental pain I endured for years. There are times it hurts less. There are times my mobility is much better. This I get relief from. The emotional/mental pain was always there, no matter what. For year after year after year form being a child right thru till I was 40 when all that poison was finally able to be released thanks to meeting the right therapist who guided me thru the muck and didn't let me go. It took 5 years from 35-40.

Life really did begin at 40 for me.

I think it is plain that I am not about to let my body f**k it up for me!

Praise The Lord

Why?

Do we really think that the Creator of The Universe and all that is in it needs to be praised?

Does he or she have such low self esteem that s/he needs us to tell him/her how wonderful they are all day long?

Or is it that we have made God in our image?

Human Beings, a despot dictator for example, needs to be praised and obeyed and worshipped. It is the needs of a weak ego that requires thesethings. I doubt very much that the Creator of all needs it!

Perhaps it is our egos that need appeasing? Perhaps we have created a a God that we need to please, fear, placate, obey, worship, praise because these are the things our own ego would like.

Whatever it is, I don't think that the Supreme Being wants us on our knees telling him/her how great they are all day long.

I think maybe that the way to truly 'worhip and praise' is by living good lives and treating others as we would want to be treated - with respect and doing no harm.

To me that is the way to worship and praise.

Smoking Socks

In the time I have stopped smoking, I have done much more hand knitting, especially socks as they are so easy to do and portable.

The phone rings, I pick it up and chat but I also pick up my socks and knit. It used to be a fag,

Now it's a sock.

Trouble is, when I am driving, I think to myself:

I must stop and have a knit.....

OPAL SMOKE 1655

Opal Smoke 1655. Knitted using 2mm for the 20rws of 2 x2 ribbing and 2.25 fro the rest. The main leg is done in a 2 x2 garter rib. I use the Magic Loop method.

Below is a close up of the heel. I use my adaptation of the Sherman heel because it is is effective, neat and is the easiest to do.

Scottish Adventure

I am back from the Scottish show. I didn't get back until yesterday, Sunday, midday. I was expecting to be back on the Saturday evening. It was quite an adventure. The trip to Linda's was uneventful except that I did it without a stop and therefore had great difficulty getting out of my car after 3.5 hours! Much to my surprise, I slept fine at her house, even if for only 3 hours after which the alarm woke me. We should have gone to bed earlier. The only other house I have slept well in belongs to my friends' Karen and Kim(male) in Denmark.

We left Linda's at 4am for the drive to Scotland. Now Hartlepool, where Linda lives, was the furthest north, in my country, that I have been. So now I was going still further for the first time. The scenery was beautiful and I even got to see The Angel Of The North up close. I think it is stunning. It was bright and sunny but windy on the drive. Three hours later we arrived at the Showground, right next to the runways of Edinburgh Airport!
Now one of our fellow exhibitors is 81 years old and she flew on her own with her dog from down south. Below is her girl. I truly admire this lady. She has fortitude and determination and tremendous courage. It was very cold and windy and she got sick. An ambulance was called but she refused to go to hospital. Now she was sort of camped with us and we took care of her and her dog until the ambulance came and the we had to stay with her. I say we but in fact it was Linda who did what needed to be done. Linda works with the elderly as her day job. So instead of us leaving by 2pm we didn't get way till 3.5 hours later thus not getting back to Linda's till almost 9pm and there was no way way I was driving 4 hours home then! Besides which, the cold had buggered my legs and I was in a lot of pain and hardly able to walk.This is Linda(right) and her friend Debbie.

The show itself was interesting. If you have read my blurb about going, I was not going for this particular judge as I had seen him judge before and shown under him once and said I never would again. Yet, i wanted to go to Scotland and be with my friends so Micah went and got 5th out of 6 for my trouble ! ;-) Micah was so well behaved. He loves it all. For some reason he gets very horny when he goes to a show. This makes him strut when being shown. He loves it. He slept on the bed with me, the first time for him. Like most of my Apso, he slept near my feet. His choice. Most of this breed do. I used to have an American Cocker and Dax and they prefer to sleep near you head, or on it !

I am glad I went. I have two more shows up that way this year, in August and next month.

I have another show at Bath this coming Monday.

Whoopeee!

I awoke this morning after a good night's sleep, an early one too, was asleep by 11.5pm.

Let the dogs out, let them in, fed them, then came up here to do my banking and email. With my coffee of course.

Anyway, within a couple of minutes, I had to go to the little room and it seems everything is back to normal. Phew! I was not looking forward to Scotland and this long long trip if I was still having those problems. Especially as I am staying to night at a friends home. I don't know about you, but I prefer my own bed. Even hotels are not the same for me. When we go away, I always have trouble sleeping.

IT HAS BEEN 7 WEEKS TODAY SINCE I QUIT SMOKING!!!!

Stuff

I have a new pair of socks on the go, this time using Opal Smoke 1655. Yes the colour and pattern are as to be expected! I am using a 2 x2 garter rib for these. I really like the colour very much. Perhaps I'll post a picture by Sunday.

I also have a brown version af the last sweater completed and I am now knitting a beige sweater, same yarn, different textured pattern.

I am off to Scotland tomorow afternoon for the show on Saturday.

To be frank, I feel more like staying in bed. I feel quite washed out since the enteritis and my guts are still not back to normal. I have decided that the runs is much better than being stopped up.

I ate rhubarb and plenty of vegetbles today along with some senekot last night. Hopefully that will get me unstopped. Oh and drinking loads of water.

Thank fully, the arthritis pain has abated somewhat.

It has been a joy though to watch the puppies playing in the garden. They are at that still walking like drunks stage and they are doing plenty of fighting and being fierce with each other. You wouldn't believe the viciousness and noise coming from such sweet looking and small beings!

More Than You Wanted To Know

Since I got over my enteritis bug, I have had the opposite problem! So last night I stuck one of those lubricating bullets you know where. You know the type prescribed for piles? Well, it sort of helped.

So am drinking plenty of water and this morning for breakfast I ate lamb rogan josh and spinach. I don't eat cereals, didn't think eggs were a good idea so what the hell.

I have almost finished the second of my Hummel(Bee) socks. The response I got from Opal, via the USA distributor(yes they think everyone lives in the USA) was laughable. It was to remind me of their disclaimer about the yarns being variable.

Yes, we know that. However, this sock did not vary slightly from the published colourway. It was TOTALLY different.

If I could be bothered, I'd pop it along to Trading Standards here in the UK because we are pretty hot on such things and this falls foul of the trades description act, disclaimer or not.

You know, until I got this lame, patronizing, we don't care response, I wasn't really bothered about the damn pattern. Now I am!

To be fair, I was offered a replacement ball(had I lived in the USA).

Anyway, I am eager to start my next sock. I have got very good and finishing one whole pair before starting another. I think I am going to do this one in garter rib. Ordinary 2 x 2 rib will not really work. On the normal amount of sts for me, 76, the ribbing would just stretch too much and look like nothing. I tried last week using 96sts but that was too many. Oh they looked fine when not worn but that is hardly the point.......excuse me I need to go to the little room.....okay I am back...it occurred to me that maybe this is what labour feels like and that finally 26 years of trying has paid off....

On Friday, I leave for Scotland. The Royal Edinburgh Showground in Ingliston to be precise. I have never been to Scotland before. I really ummed and ahhed over entering this show cos I am not all sure I think much of the judge for my breed but then I thought, what the hell, it'll be fun to be with my friends and I have never been to Scotland. At 350 miles it is the furthest show for me. I will be staying Friday night with my friend Linda in Hartlepool which is much closer to the show.

Now, I have driven to Oslo from my house. A driving trip of 1300 miles. I have also driven to Barcelona and to Stockholm. These trips were easy compared to driving this 350 miles to Scotland. UK roads are always busy. The only place I know of that is the same , or maybe even worse, is Belgium. Every time I have been thru that country, and you have to go thru it to visit most places, I have got stuck in traffic.