WARNING IDIOT ABOUT......

WARNING, Math has wired up the new computer, before he go's away tomorrow for 2 weeks. Therefore, if there are any weird and abstract posts, or even no posts, please bear with me. (Cos remember, I am new to all this, and yes it is rocket science to me). All these new thingy-me bobs, that are now attached to this new machine may confuse me. There will be no Maths for me to call into the study, should it all go terribly wrong, as it often does.

I'm sure 'it' knows its me using it. Now and again it will just close down on me, losing everything I've done, or completely freeze up. I will go into anther room, maybe have a coffee or a cup of tea, and whilst away from it (the computer), I wait for the magic elves to come and repair it. Sometimes this works. However, if the elves are busy elsewhere, I have to wait for Maths to come home to show me the error of my ways . This really gets my goat, I hate not being able to sort the problem myself and those elves can't be relied on.

So please don't laugh too hard at my mistakes, and if a blank screen appears, be sure I will be back as soon as those dam elves get here, or Math returns from his business trip.

Nat left for Thailand Friday night, promised to call when he arrived. Its now Sunday evening and I've heard nothing, I just hope he's so busy enjoying his full moon party. He was meeting a friend there to celebrate it (I'm sure he doesn't realise how much I will worry till I hear from him).

Wasn't the eclipse fantastic, I spent hours outside, just starring at this unbelievable sight. How lucky am I, not only in my life time have I seen an eclipse of the moon but also of the sun, now not everyone can say that......

DESPONDENT, DISPIRITED, SAD..........

Unable to do a post yesterday due to technical problems.
Was going to start my month of March, with how brilliant it is that spring is just around the corner. How I have noticed all the buds in my garden, ready to burst out of their protective covering.
Regrettably I feel unable to feel any joy.
I did notice this morning the sound of several police cars sirens in the distance, and thought it unusual.
At lunch time I put on the T.V to see what the weather held for us. The local news was just starting, there on the screen I saw the name of the village next to us.
Obviously this attracted my attention, I listened to the reporter. What I heard him say made me feel nauseous, I had to take a seat whilst I took in what was being broadcast.

An elderly disabled lady had been found dead in her home this morning. The milkman had noticed a collection of milk bottles outside her house, this was unusual so he had contacted the police.
Then a police officer was interviewed by the reporter, he said that this was a particularly shocking case and was being investigated as a MURDER.
The reporter then went on to interview several neighbours, who spoke about a very disabled old lady, who they only saw now and again struggling to the local shop. The shopkeeper said that occasionally the old lady had asked him to come to her home to change a light bulb, as these were chores she was unable to do.

Not only am I shocked and appalled that this has happened in a small village, but 'EXCUSE ME' this is 2007 is it not???? Why oh why has this lady been allowed to be in this position????? Why have people watched her struggle to the shop, why wasn't someone keeping a discrete eye out for her well being????? They knew she was disabled, they knew she was elderly, surly one can be concerned without being interfering????????
In fact I would stand and be accused of being nosey, interfering anything, if it prevents a monstrosity like this from happening.
I hate that this is the start of my March blog, but I'm just so horrified by it all. It needs to be here to remind me, of my own neighbour not too far away who is 85. All it takes to care is a few seconds, we get 86,400 a day. Just a few seconds from that amount of time could make all the difference.....

THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT

I don't know about you, but my crown and glory, has always been everything but that.
It will curl and frizz, after spending an age torturing it with smoking straightening irons and various lotions and potions.
Then defy any logical method of reasoning, to fall as straight as pump water, after sitting hours with velcro curlers entwined within it (you can guarantee, entourage of unexpected visitors at this point).
The few white hairs, that used to wink back at me through my glossy brunette mass, have declared war and won.
At the moment I am re massing my force's and continuing my monthly battle to regroup the brunette look. With the help, I admit, of a foreign general who's claim to fame is he is using natural products not chemical warfare.
My dilema is, shall I cut back on the troops?????
The reasons for this drastic move are as follows......

1. Time saved in conflict with electrical appliance's.
2. Money spent on lotions and potions, put to better use (more room for Maths smellies in bathroom).
3. Not disgracing my honour (blasphemes have been known to leave my mouth, when said style doesn't appear).
4. Heard a top stylist say 'after the big 4 , should be worn above the chin.
5. Always thought Sinead O'Conners looked cool....
6. Hopefully not looking like I'd had a wrestling match in a morning with the hairy ape, who follows you home from the bar.
7. May weigh less on the bathroom scales!!!
8. Anything Posh can do or should I say Britney Spears!!!!!
9. Cutting down on my carbon footprints.
10. Would like to see something better/different smiling back at me from the mirror

Reasons not to.

1. Math likes it long, but I think that's just a man thing ( regardless if it suits me or not).
2. I do actually like it when he runs his fingers through it, (he doesn't always get snarled up like a fly in a spiders web).
3. Morticia from the Adams Family, also looks cool.
4. I can hide beneath it.
5. Fringe's are not always sexy.
6. SORRY, busy washing my hair is always the classic excuse.
7. Look at Catherine Zeta-Jones (not that I look like her, but her hair is long).
8. Why should I give up my space in the bathroom?
9. On a good day the reflection smiling back at me, isn't that bad.
10. Then when all else fails, I can scrape it all back in a scrunchie, and appear sophisticated.
11. Even with it short, I could look like that dam ape has followed me home in the morning........

Well 10 for and11 against. HELP. I just don't know what to do (the title of many a song, comes to mind). All opinions greatly valued....................

'AKELAMALU' POST OP UPDATE

Update for for any fellow blogger's who have visited akelamalus blog. I had contact with her MWM on Monday evening.
He said she is doing fine, and looked blooming marvelous (but of course).
Yesterday she contacted me, and I couldn't believe how well she sounded. The hospital staff have made her, the star patient (I expected little else).
I am looking forward to the return of her blog, for all the gory details.....

TRULY MAGICAL.....

In past posts I have written about the large nature reserve, near my home. Just a hop, skip and a jump away, through the parkland and your there.
It is truly a magical place, please let me tell you the story of Brierley Woods /park.

For many years the land called Brierley worked hard to support the people who lived in the area. This was not, allowing them to farm the land and help producing their nutritional needs.
No, Brierley allowed the men of the area to dig and tunnel under its surface. To take away its black veins of coal and utilise them into the many resources available.
Its once rich green surface, now pitted with slurry pools , like acne on the skin of a teenager.

For many years Brierley unselfishly provided for the community surrounding it.
Then politicians and miners fought in battles, about many issues concerning Brierley, and places similar. These conflicts became aggressive and as in all wars, there were many casualties.
Brieley paid a high price, even after its loyalty for all those years , it was discarded and left for dead.


Slowly the magic started to happen...

First to show their appreciation, the local communities applied for funding through regeneration grants. Many volunteers gathered for the hard work to commence. Brierley was restored into a beautiful nature reserve.
All this work started before I came to this area to live, approximately 10 to 12 yrs ago I think the project started.

So I have been in the fortunate position to watch this wonderful landscape develop and
grow. There is a large lake with a variety of wildlife living there, the once unsightly slurry pools are now reed ponds filled with tall bullrushes.

In the last 18months I have observed so many animals, birds and wildlife that the land is supporting whilst walking out there. I would like to share some with you.

ANIMALS
Foxes
Hares
Stoats
Voles

Field mice
Pipistrel bats
Hedgehogs

BIRDS
Kestrels
Tawny owl
Magpies
Crows
Greenfinch
Chaffinch
Bullfinch
Great Tit
Robin
Blue Tit
Black caps
Hedge sparrow
Starlings
Thrushes
Blackbirds
Mute Swans
Canadian Geese
Herons
Mallards
Moor Hens
Grebes
Teals
Sky Larks
Lap wings
Linnets

Reptiles and Amphibians
Frogs
Toads
Newts
Grass Snakes

Insects
Dragon Flies
Damsel Flies
Devils coachmen
Ladybirds
etc

Flora and Fauna
Oak
Ash
Cedar
Hawthorn
Fir
Lime
Chestnut
Willow
Hornbeam
Wild Orchid
Wild garlic
etc

I must have missed loads, but also a mad Milo darting every where. Isn't it marvellous how nature given time will heal its self. I know mankind had given a helping hand here at Brierley. But if you look at a disused train line, notice how nature starts to repair herself. Growing brambles and blackcurrant bushes, not only marvellous but truly magical.......


Please enjoy my personal photographs, but feel free to visit the website at http://huthwaite.org/brierley-forest/index.htm