FOX TERRIER LOVE

Well I have just about survived my first week at my new job , such a big step from full time to part time, I am so so tired and am still fighting off this awful cold / cough thing , so I am resting and recuperating on my day off and have just spent a lovely hour or so reading through my favorite blogs and finding out what you have all been getting up to.. much more interesting than this election carry on thats going on today , ( and more important!)I get a lot of enjoyment out of your blogs ,I love dipping into your lives .....
I am still in the midst of my Fox terrier passion, it just kind of crept on me, In reality I have a Norfolk terrier and a jack Russel and have had three black labs in the past all now sadly in dogie heaven, but I have noticed I am not the only blogger with a passion for them , I think its their old fashioness and My uncle used to have one when i was a kid. I also think they have gained popularity because the saintly Cath Kidston has a little furry baby called Stanley , (A lake land terrier really) and she has used him in her advertising and books, this is him above,sweet...



when I was over in Grassington a few weeks ago the post office sells nice cards and I fell on these Milkwood cards , the lady only had one design left ,so she kindly arranged to send me some in every design when she got new stock, and yesterday these arrived! are they not lovely. I am intending to get some frames for them .....
this is Stan and friends

love this one ..apparently their are even more ,so i have asked her to send me more if she gets them in..

On Sunday I went to two car boots Scawton and Thirsk and at both I found a little fox terrier friend for Bertie ,my kennel is expanding , I am thinking of turning the wire shelf I bought at the cb a couple of weeks ago in to the kennel , so there all together ,just have to persuade D to put the shelf up now..




This is a lovely 1930,s calender I bought from a fellow blogger, its fab and anotherto add to my collection.....
I am so lusting after one of these terriers on wheels, specially one of the 50,s Triang/pedigree one ..Do you think it would be to sad to ask for one for my birthday in June..?
This is the one I would love ( bottom photo) ..if you see one let me know,!!!


And may be also one of these, but of course it would be unfair as I have just started working longer hours, my furry babies are 15 and 16 years old and as long as I take them out in the morning they snooze most of they day with a quick cat chase thrown in a couple of times a day ,( my cats and dogs have lived together for 7 years but Flora still likes a quick chase!!!)in and D,s home at three so its not too bad, but a puppy couldn't be left that long.. but arnt they adorable? so the one on wheels it will be!!!



which one would you choose ? mines on the right!

MY KITCHEN

Hello ,just want to say thank you for all your lovely comments and emails, i really love receiving them and so glad to meet you! I have started a new full time job this week and am feeling really worn out, I have only worked part time recently and its hard to adjust, also sods law I have developed a stinky flu,cold,cough , just what i needed right now.. so to days my first day off and trying to catch up with every thing, between collapsing on the sofa with lemsip! After my Saturday car boot pilgrimage and the trolley dash round Sainbods, I have spent a lot of time in my kitchen, so i thought I would give you a look.. The dried flowers are a bunch bought at a Brittany market last summer and every time I look at them it transports me back to the sunshine and smells of the market...


This cheese bell is the first old treasure I bought as a married woman,(27 years ago!) I bought it from Canarfon Wales and it cost £ 11 , felt alot then, still love it..




My cottage is very old ( grade two listed) and there has been a building on this site for over 600 years,( In 1519 a chap called Ralph brockelhurst was living here!) so you can imagine its higgeldy piggeldy and quirky, because of the listing we have had to work around what was already there, luckily the kitchen only had a sink and one red unit when we bought it , so we have fitted a free standing kitchen , buying old french cupboards, and shelves from architectural salvage yards,



This is my small pantry, I have a larger walk in one in the opposite corner of kitchen . D striped the large door and made the the small one to match..


this is my little table come work station, we fitted casters so I can wheel it round to where I need it..
I love this little built in cupboard with its little air holes, i keep all my dried ,tinned food in here so handy near the cooker..

as you can see I am not minimalist! they blue shelves we bought from a reclamation yard and D fitted them ,AS its not a huge kitchen I didn't want wall cupboards and i really love this with its paneling and finials, so much stuff on it its a testament to D,s DIY skills it stays up!

the chocolater sign was a little Ebay purchase..


My sweet malachy ,there is all ways a furry baby hanging about in the kitchen in case of food action, we painted the floor white, and my god its so hard to keep clean, and marks so much, does any body else have a love hate with painted floors?


this is the view through our kitchen to our barn room , which is a double height room with a hay loft window and it used to be a black smiths forge and its over 45 ft long ,our cottage would be quite small with out it, and its light and airy ..


one of my many weaknesses ,floral shopping bags! and mugs...!!!!!
Cant be leave i am showing you my kitchen sink (have you nodded off yet!) we have an old ceramic drainer and butlers sink ,with marble surround(from an old fireplace) I think its got a 30,s feel, I spend too much time here , we don't have a dish washer so...I all so can resist a bit of enamel ...!!! D made the shelves, whos a clever boy!
this is what I bought at the car boot this morning ,I love the sugar tongs, ingenious! Having shown you the first thing i bought I thought i would show you the latest!! i am going to go now and have a hot bath ,a hot chocolate ,more lemsip and try to get my self well for Monday when I am back at work, sniff ,cough , shiver, love from the i am feeling sorry for my self Yorkshire lass!!

MY CHILDHOOD REVISITED

When I was little my uncle Mervin who was a chief fireman In Monmouth wales had to very sadly attend the aberfan disaster , ( when a slag heap slid down the vallely and enveloped a school and village in mud) killing 144 people ,114 been children in 1966 ,do you remember it? very very tragic, any way my uncle bought a raffle ticket that was part of the drive to raise funds for the community and he won the most beautiful dolls pram, coach built black and shiny , (probably donated by a toy shop?). I remember the day he gave it to me with lovely embroidered bedding and a dolly , it was so beautiful and I treasured it! When I left home for my first flat ,my mother gave it away ( had been stored in the dinning room at my family home since my childhood)I was devastated , when I demanded she got it back, it had been left out side and very abused and was ruined ..sob..sob.. having had two boys , so no girly , dolly things re entered my life this way and I have all ways secretly wished for a pram so .... on Monday a local antique dealer rang to say come and see what she had found.. da da ..




its a lovely vintage Triang 50,s doll pram , what do you think!

I am going to make some lovely bedding out of brightly coloured embroidered old table cloths, I also managed to get a sewing machine this week end from a lovely lady on free cycle, so their will be no stopping me now!!


Nat and D both think I have lost the plot and keep mentioning regression and dementia!!!



On saturday I went to a fantastic vintage/ craft fair in Masham , a stunning little market town close to where I live, and a had the great pleasure of meeting a fellow blogger , the lovely Catherine of alchamillamolly
she had a stall ( I forgot to take my camera so no pics,sorry) with so many lovely things she had made and also vintage bits and pieces , as I had just bought the pram ,I limited my self to this lovely bunting she had cleverly made from Cath Kidston fabric, I was so thrilled to meet her and her lovely friend(sorry forgotten her name) and so glad to meet my new blogging friend in the flesh. We have arranged to meet again , we both agreed that blogging great for connecting with like minded people and making new Friends!!!





Today the weather has been lovely and after my usual car boot pilgrimage I spent some lovely relaxing time here in my garden readind the papers sipping coffee and pottering about , with my little stone friend who had his eye on the bird house, ..

and my real furry baby Malachy , who so enjoyed the warmth , and cake crumbs! I will show you my car boot treasures latter in the week, hope you have had a lovely week end and got to relax as much as Malachy!!!

MY FIRST BLOG AWARD

Hello, firstly I would like to thank all my lovely blogging friends for leaving lovely comments ,Ilove reading them all and so appreciate you dropping by to read my ramblings! Ho my. I am so honoured to be awarded my first blogging award! The lovely kitty ( a fellow Yorkshire lass! )from memoirs of a vintage magpie ( listed in my favorite blogs)has passed this award on to me ,and requested I write about 7 things you don't know about me...... so here goes...
No 1, Firstly I have two sons , one adopted and one birth son. We were told by several specialists that we could,nt have children, so after 8 years of marriage we adopted our first little cherub in 1990, from north wales, the day our social worker turned up on our door and broke the news that they had a baby boy for us, was one of the best days of my life.. three years latter a miracle happened and I found out I was pregnant , I was five months pregnant before I realised, and when our eldest little boy was four years and 7 days old when his not so little brother was born, he weighed 11 lb 4 oz when he was born, ( I would like some fellow female empathy at this point!) and a lovely farming friend said he was Christmas turkey weight!!


NO 2, I am half Irish on my mothers side and my ancestors came from county Monaghan and were farmers for generations, my great grand father was born just before the devastating potato famine and was lucky to survive , most of his brother and sisters did,nt... must have strong s genes ..

NO 3, I have lived in 19 different houses in 25 years , D was in the RAF and boy did we move, some of the places i have lived are.. middle sex, Buckingham shire, Leuchars and Peat Inn , and Crail, Fife, Scotland . Valley, Holyhead, and Four mile Bridge ,Angelsey , Linconshire, London central, Ireland, and 6 different places in Yorkshire. In 1996 we moved 4 times! Friends suggested we should have one of these ( below)to make life easier! They awful thing is when you move so much you get itchy feet , and i think we have only stayed in our current house (5 years ,longest we have stayed any where ) as youngest son is so settled and mid exams . there could be trouble ahead as I fancy moving to what I think is the most beautiful city in England ( i love Georgian architecture ) Bath and D fancies St Ives ( which I do Love as well , we try to go every year) , , NEED to buy lottery ticket so We can have a house in each place!!







need one of these beauties..






St Ives..

or Bath , which do you prefer?
NO 4, I have seen a ghost , yes ,honestly, there is no other explanation, not a human ghost( now that would have freaked me even more) we lived in another very old cottage in the Dales before this one, and late one night I was last up and reading country living and sipping co co , when a little brown terrier dog appeared from under our farm house kitchen table, our dogs were shut into there beds in the pantry, so at first I was very puzzled as I couldn't figure how it had got into the house,it walked strait in to our sitting room down some steps, I followed ,the little dog was like a rusty coloured border terrier, no dog in the sitting room , looked behind ,under every thing , no way it could get out, VANISHED. I went strait to bed ,didn't say any thing to D.. you know how men are!!! (would have accused me of madness!) weeks go by ,D shoots down stairs one night dripping from the bath, shouting OK where have YOU hid the NEW DOG? the little brown dog had walked into the bath room and out again ,D having listened to my sighting story said, ho my god its paws didn't make a sound on the bare floor boards! My brother came to stay (We didn't mention THE DOG) and late after noon while un packing shouted could you come and get the little brown dog from under the bed i,m frightened it might snap if i drag it out, (Hes nervous of dogs) of course it was,t there when I looked. he ransacked the room not accepting our ghost theory, last time I saw it was in the kitchen about a week before we moved out, I saw it for a full 20 ish seconds and it did,nt seem to see me , honestly it looked so real ,and I felt a real sadness when it was with me,I said ( YES I KNOW ,I know !!) Every things OK your a good dog , and it walked into the dinning room. and puff gone, I asked a round the village if Mrs Bink's who had lived in our house for 82 years(born and died there ) had owned a little brown dog and people said she only had cats in there memory! I think it showed it self to us because we were animal lovers. now you think I am mad!




MY SWEET GHOST...

NO 5, I have a phobia of treacle/syrup, when I was little my horrid cousin emptied a tin over my head, and i couldn't breath or see and panicked and since go very peculiar when I see a tin or smell it. strange but true!
NO 6, I had a triple barrel surname before i was married and it took me till I was about 8 before I could write it all .. thank god I have such a short surname now



NO 7, OK this isn't me but my family! God this is hard,thinking of 7 things, D,s great grand mother was a friend of Flora Thompson who wrote the book Lark Rise to Candleford, and lived in the same Oxford shire village as Flora and appears in the book, so with high expectations we watched the TV series , absolutely no mention of great granny. as much as i enjoy series visually it is rather over the top and is,nt very real ( sorry I f I have shocked you!!) and the gentle sweet book is not represented in this melodrama, I have only one weakness is a great line though!! so there we are. .. 7 weird thing about little old me .. I will be back soon to show you what I bought today.. D will really think I have flipped when he sees it!!!!

Retail therapey on the cheap..

I don't know what been wrong with me the last few days but I have been feeling erm ... ho out of sorts with my self.. As I told you I lost 4 stone last year and have felt so much more confident and healthy since .. I am still trying to loose another 7-9 pounds but the weight will not budge .. yes I know I ate that huge cake on Saturday, but on the whole i stick to under 1500 cals a day, and do loads of walking..loads.... but I stick at the same weight ho hum... Since I have lost weight I have become a born again clothesaholic.. I have always been interested in clothes ( too cold for nakedness in Yorkshire 11 1/2 months of year!) but when i became heavier my interest wavered as i felt I looked awful in every thing! I am a size 10 in most clothes and can get into a size 8 in skirts, so I know I am not that fat any more .. but I have been feeling fat and lumpy and err do you ever get like this, nothing really big wrong but you just feel a bit out of sorts about every thing and nothing.... so I decided I needed to get out , have been at home most of time with supposedly to spend time with the prowling teenager.. you know on call for emergency bacon butties and to supply refreshments for procession of teenagers that drop in and out of our house, I am sure neighbours think I have started a youth club.... , but had ENOUGH to day and headed for a cheer me up retail session , unaccompanied ,unhindered!!. so...
first I stopped in TK MAXX , I am a fan off this shop... and enjoyed a leisurely browse and spotted theses lovely shoes, pretty ,unusual , and comfy ,know I will wear them loads..





As soon as I spotted this jacket I knew it was for me , a lovely light weight spring /summer jacket with really pretty floral embroidery great with jeans. I went to Darlington shopping and there are loads of charity shops.. ,this was in the first one I went into .£9.99 for such loveliness.. fits me and Cecile perfectly!! photo take in my/cats boudoir ,god its cluttered..





I found this lovely find in a charity shop(5th) its a oilily skirt ,very like white stuff, made in fine needle cord with the most sumptuous silk underskirt ,in a lovely shimmery green with a cute ribbon edge.. £ 3.50.. love it, I suspect it was very expensive when bought new.. it still is in new condition, don't know how/why people buy things hardley/not ware them then dispose, but I am grateful!!!


this is what I treated my self to in Primark, I went looking for the pretty oil cloth Cath kidston style bags that have been mentioned on some of your lovely blogs.. but alas none but I did get these lovely white Cotton pj,s and the lovely cotton pg,s flowery ..quite CK don't you think?

this is a rare photo of...ME.. taken yesterday through the old mirror of my wardrobe ,I had to do contortions to take a self portrait,not easy is it? Malachy is winding round my legs.... have you recovered from the shock..do you need hot sweet tea,? smelling salts?


Yesterday FLOG IT came to my small town, I rather erm like Paul Martin the presenter ,but as I walked past the venue and I saw him, he is taller and ,dishyier in real life , but i was far too shy and slightly embarrassed too go in , so un be known to me, my son and his mate went in and got his autograph ,and said Please... ho my god, his mum fancied him..!! so this is my little present .. Also signed by curly haired expert James some body.. Nat bless him said to James somebody my mum doesn't fancy you ,but you can still sign..! didn't seam to be many people queuing to flog there stuff, us Yorkshire types hang on to our loot!! slightly creased ,not paul Martin but the card as son folded into wallet so he would not loose street cred!!




Also got this little fellow to add to my kennel ,Bertie wasn't keen..

and finally I all most squealed when I saw a pair of Emma Bridewater heart cup and saucers. two cups two saucers . in last charity shop... £2..... yes yes yes £2.. so this is sat beside me to admire and sip as I write this.. The retail therapy did do me good.... and I keep smiling at Paul who is also propped on my bedside table!!! Who is so greatfull I fancey him ..I know..erm