A Good Cause

Bit of promotion, here, for a local event that needs your support...

SATURDAY 16th AUGUST

10 am - 4 pm

Fundraising Day

at 6-8 Canongate

in Jedburgh

in aid of

Chernobyl Childrens Lifeline

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tea and cakes (of course)

tombola bric a brac,

a clothing sale, as well as treatments like

reiki, Indian head massage and

neck and shoulder massages

Plus information on CCLL and what's involved in hosting

young children from Chernobyl for a few weeks each summer.

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This summer 14 children from Belarus stayed with Borders families for a month. They all live within the area contaminated by the disaster and a month in the clean air of the Borders boosts their damaged immune systems to a huge extent. Host families participate in events with the children, and ensure they leave with suitcases of clothes and other items to help them once back home. This is the fifth year that volunteers have hosted children - money raised through events such as the one above helps to fund the associated costs.

Phew, what a scorcher!

Tooooo hot to blog. Must go and lie down again......

Party Time!

More adventures for Miss Midge. Her Mum is called Fay and her owners, Jo and Alan, held a BBQ so all the puppies could meet up again. They are nearly six months old already. I'll point out now that although I was invited THEY did not take me. There was a lot of muttering about 'disruptive influence', 'too big for her own boots', 'show-off' and other wounding and hurtful dialogue too painful to repeat here. So there you have it - favouritism.

However, photographs were taken, as you can see. Also you will note from the top pic that Midge really is a midget - she is the littlest of the litter now. That's her and one of her brothers going off to investigate the trampoline. Shortly after, Midge beat a hasty retreat back to the other hounds - bit scary, those boys.

As well as the pups and mum and granny, there were two visiting black lab great aunts. The amazing thing was how fantastically well behaved everybody was - no barking or nipping or bad language from anyone.This statement has been repeated to me ad nauseam, I might add.

The middle pic shows a squirming Midge beside her mother Fay and her grandmother Flora (a full English Setter).Today is a celebration of a completely different kind. This vehicle was acquired by Hugh many months ago and he has been working on it ever since, in his spare time. A Range Rover of mature years and rusty chassis, it was 'bobtailed' by Hugh - that is , the back end was chopped off and refashioned. A demon welder then constructed an external rollcage for it before Hugh set to the seemingly endless patching and welding of the rusty bits, plus many more previously undiscovered problem areas, and other techie stuff. Finally, in the nick of time, it was finished and today he rolled out with Shorty on a trailer, for its first off-road trial. We wait with baited breath to learn how the day has gone....

Rain stopped play

There I was, just getting accustomed to waking up to sunshine and the comforting thought of another day to laze in the garden when lo, the rains came down. Well, alright, heavy drizzle, but still, it has rather taken the edge of my early summer.

Hugh took pity on me and I was sole passenger on the brief car trip he made today (ooops, and then another one to his saviour, the blacksmith with the well-stocked workshop just down the road). So at least I had the joy of the back of the car all to myself, without 'Nipper' Midge at my ankles.

The camera has been out this last month, but largely to photograph fancy new yarns and stuffed animal-thingies for herself's shop so I don't have anything that new and exciting to show you. Hugh's cabin is ready for the maestro but he's been cutting grass and washing cars for a living lately so there's no new masterpieces to show you yet.

H and L were down in Northumberland on Sunday, checking out The Art Tour - they saw work by fifteen different artists and craftspeople (out of many more) and had a jolly time. I fear L may feel the need to rabbit on at length about the experience but she can do that on her own blog, methinks...

Beach Blues

Greetings from sun soaked Chesters. Blimey, we've had a couple of weeks of warm dry weather and I have to say these [still young] bones will soak up any amount of sunshine given the chance. Nothing better after a walk or dinner than to flop down onto toasty warm earth and just r-e-l-a-x..... zzzzzzzzz

Hugh had a birthday this month so we all took off to the seaside. Not one of the brightest or warmest days, it must be said, but this did not deter us. I tried to introduce Midge to the pleasures of deep water but she wimped out whenever a wave approached. We were inevitably made to pose for photographs again even though I was soaking wet and Midge would rather have been sniffing along the high water mark.

A major highlight of the year happened just yesterday - Lindsay received all the way from South Africa this painting by this talented lady . L has been scheming to acquire one of Arty Farty's artworks for quite a while and when she spotted this one on her blog she knew that was it. Fortunately when it arrived and was unrolled (it's about 1m x 1.5m!) Hugh immediately said how much he liked it too. This means its allowed to grace the living room wall, as soon as he's made a frame to stretch it over. Posh, eh?

Tres tasteful

Et voila, the cabin exterior is painted and the floor has been varnished. The curtains are made but not hung yet as H & L need to find a cheap and cheerful way of insulating the roof. Then, maybe, the arty stuff can get moved in and Hugh can splash paint on those walls instead of his current garret.
Fat lambs everywhere which means no running across empty fields for Midge and me. It's either walks along the road on a lead (bah, humbug) or trips to one bit of forest or another. Even that's getting complicated as tonnes and tonnes of trees are being felled and shipped south these days.
Hugh's all pleased as he's got work with the beloved little grey Fergie tractor this week, at a friend's house down the road. Just as well he's finished painting for his new exhibition which opens at the Cairns Gallery in Peebles in a couple of weeks' time.

Artistic Development ll

This morning was a touch frosty but then the sun shone and we were off to the forest. L was in snap happy mode so Midge and I were coerced into posing for her.
We are a good advert for 'no-nonsense well-priced complete dog meal ' says she.
Hmm, give us an egg now and then you'll REALLY see a shiny coat, says me.

And here we have proof that three polite Polish cabin kit builders can drive up from London, build a cabin in a matter of six hours, turn round and drive all the way back again for a very reasonable price and two cups of coffee each. Now H & L need to get on and paint it before the unseasonable sleet takes its toll on the raw wood. In the mere blink of an eye it will be magically transformed with Cuprinol Shades 'Wild Thyme' to a subtle 'you don't really notice I'm here, do you' sort of effect....