Hallowe'en Treats.

I grew up in Wales. At that time and in that place Hallowe'en was a time for small, private, children's parties. We played bob-apple, ducking-apple, murder-in-the-dark (this last, naturally, involved a lot of screaming!). Small cakes were decorated as spooky faces and toadstools. A good time was had by all.

No-one had heard of Trick-or-Treat.

Near Christmas we went carol-singing with the Chapel youthclub. All takings went to charity.

On the morning of New Year's Day, strictly before noon, we sang a Welsh rhyme at neighbours' locked doors. Then we shouted our names. If we were recognised, the door was opened and a couple of small coins would be handed to us. This was known as the "calennig". We could spend these coins on whatever took our fancy - luxury!

Anyway, back to Hallowe'en.

Imagine my surprise this morning to sign in and find my first ever Hallowe'en treat. It came from Hootin' Anni, just because I dropped by her door. Great! Here it is.



Now, so as not to be greedy, I have to pass it on.

Treats for:

jamflam - here's what I think
jmb - nobody important
siani - Siani's Pot-Pourri
teena - It's all about me!
welshcakes limoncello - Sicily Scene

Happy Hallowe'en everyone!

Wow!

I didn't post yesterday, as I was busy for a while in the morning. Later I was kept even busier answering comments and visiting other blogs. The Saturday Photo Hunt has really broadened my blogging experience.

Thanks for all the interesting introductions folks! There are loads of good photos and loads of good blogs out there.

Tonight I'm tired, trying to stay awake until a sensible bed-time. I'm not a night owl. Not really a Lark, either, but I'm better in the mornings than at any other time of the day. My trouble is the ending of "Summer Time", when the clocks go back an hour and the day drags towards its end. I do dislike the messing about with time, even though it's only an hour. I find it upsetting to my system. Wish they'd leave the time alone.

Well, that's that rant over.

Back to the Photo Hunt. Strange how little it takes to make me excited! I feel I've made a fair number of potential friends in the past couple of days.

Wow!

Saturday PhotoHunt - Pink,

I'm posting these early, as I may not have time in the morning.

The first photo is of a lovely morning sky.




This second photo is a Dianthus, or Pink, in a tub. The petals have PINKed edges, too!

History

Way back in June 1990 I informed my family that we would be moving to an island in Ireland. Fortunately my husband agreed, and we moved at the beginning of September. Before leaving I bought loads of underwear and socks for everyone, as there was no electricity on this island and therefore no washing machines or tumble driers.
I bought white socks for all five children (aged 12 years down to 5 years at that time)

Now, apart from no electricity, this island had no plumbing and no roads. Plenty of mud, though! Welly-boots were standard outdoor footwear, and they frequently filled with samples of boggy liquids. Once worn, the white socks rapidly changed colour. Wash-day was a nightmare until I got used to it.





Water was carried from an outside storage tank, heated over an open fire, then poured into a tub made from a cut-down plastic barrel. Soap and wash-board cleaned some of the items, but the jeans needed the addition of the kind of scrubbing-brush usually utilised on floors. I used to be in such a bad mood that the kids vanished from the house - only to return with grass and mud stains (and worse, there were free-range cows on the island!) all over their clean clothes.

In good summer weather I could dry the clothes well - but we quickly ran out of water (the storage tanks filled from the roof when it rained.) In the winter we had plenty of water - but short wet days meant it was hard to dry the washing. Great fun!

Now we live back in "civilisation" I really enjoy my automatic washing machine and my tumble drier - but I must say that I don't enjoy the electricity bills!

Hmmm

I started this blog with very little idea of what I wanted to do, apart from having somewhere to use as a journal. Now I've seen what others are doing with their blogs, and some of then are very interesting. So I've had to ask myself why anyone would want to view my blog - what have I got to say that would be of any interest to anyone else?
Hmmm.

Success!

Hooray! Thanks to the very helpful TNChick, who responded to my question late on a Sunday evening, I now have the PHOTOHUNTER button safely installed. I'm really looking forward to joining the PhotoHunt next Saturday.

Frustration

I've found PHOTOHUNTER, which links blogs participating in the Saturday PhotoHunt. I like the idea and I'd like to join in. I'm supposed to add a button to my sidebar, but for the life of me I can't make it work.
I've tried everything I can think of, and nothing's worked.
Now, I have to admit that I'm a total beginner at all this, and I'm all at sea. All very frustrating!

On the plus side, I've managed to give this blog a new look, which is very pleasing. Pyzam made it simple for me - no thinking required at all - so I had no trouble.

I suppose I just need someone to lead me by the hand, step by careful step. Ah well, I'll keep trying.

Delighted

I'm delighted to report that Rinli seems back to normal - he obviously decided that this was not, after all, the right time to die. I'm so glad.

I'm also delighted with the results of the new software we bought for my severely dyslexic son. He's had reading software for a while, but now he has voice-recognition software that enables him to write e-mails and blogs - anything, in fact! We still have to complete the necessary training, as it has difficulty with his speech mannerisms, but it's good enough to be recognisable even now. He's been able to write down all his deepest feelings, which has given him such a sense of freedom. He's 22 now, and this is the first time he's been able to read and write in privacy (we've always had to read things to him, and write to his dictation.)
I know, he's never known anything different, but it's been an incredible experience for him to write without interference. Well done Stephen!

RINLI

These pics are of Rinli, the cat who is so ill at the moment. He's still handsome, but he doesn't look as fit as this now.







Below is a pic of Badger and Tris where we used to live.

Concerned

Our family includes pets.

One, a stray cat we took in 14 years ago, has had several small strokes. Although she's recovered well, she emerges from each episode a little more strange, and we have to face the fact that she can't be with us much longer.

Another is a dog, half Springer, born in May 1994. Her brother became ill, and had to be put down in December 2006. Badger (she has a black and white head!) has started to behave like an elderly lady, sleeping most of the day. Recently she had a day of total exhaustion, not eating, lying around panting. She recovered, but since then is frequently off her food. Maybe we'll lose her soon, too.

Thirdly, we have a large male cat who was born into the family over ten and a half years ago. Apart from a time, some years ago now, when we only saved him by force-feeding (did he eat something wrong? We don't know.) he's been fit and healthy. Suddenly he's stopped eating again. We don't know why. I've tried force-feeding again, but all he can stomach is glucose water and some dilute milk. Barring some feline miracle, it seems that we'll lose him first. I do hope not.

Garden photo

Thought I'd post a photo of me sitting in my garden (joke, right?)

Gross or not

I've suffered from a weight problem all my life.

Many times I've dieted, lost some weight (even a lot at times!) then relaxed and put it all back on. By exercising a certain amount of restraint I've managed to keep my weight mostly around 14 stone, which is 3.5 stone overweight.

In March of last year I joined an on-line weight-loss group, and last Sunday I weighed 10 st 4 lb.

I like the sound of that weight - 10-4, OK. Also, in the pre-metric days, 144 was 12 dozen, or a gross. Nice. Very nice not to be gross any more!

The dragon flies!

I've spent considerable time and energy helping my husband and my youngest son to set up their blogs. Today I thought to myself "Why should I be the only one here not to have a Blogger blog?"
Myself couldn't give I a good reason, so here I am.

The dragon is flying at last.