A little tale of the cat kingdom

Such a nice feeling, being able to open the fridge and have it bulging with fresh goodies and thinking what to have to eat, the new recipe of spinach rice went down well again along with the vibrant stir fry.  

We stopped off this morning on our way back from a doctor's appointment to visit the fish counter so today's lunch was fresh mussels in a white wine sauce, with a zingy salad.  I am determined to shed those extra pounds that have crept on, I know it's going to be hard due to all my levels being all over the place, but with the warmer weather creeping on, portion control and fresh produce it must work, surely??!! any tips gratefully received

 

I think I may try walking round the block each day too, its up and down hill so must be a bit of a work out, especially for me with the fibro, would be nice to do some yoga too, have to look into that

 

When Rebecca brought me back home she decided to stay until teatime today, we both felt reassured by being around and I´m pleased to say she is feeling a little better, so she has gone home to be with her girlies (cats)  We have put strategies in place for our comfort zones, discussed possibilities and probabilities, so all is very positive and forward thinking

 

I posted a photo of this plant on 29.1.15, where I said I would post another when it flowered, I say this because I can´t find the original one, but anyway it looks very pretty and is a haven for the bees who visit it all day long. 

 

 

We have a couple of other plants that need to mature, but in some of the high winds their pots were lifted off and smashed to the ground, resulting in broken stems.  I have planted these pieces and they seem to be taking, so, a very positive result as we can now dot these around to find the best growing space for them.

 

Last night our TV viewing was the football!

I am not a particular fan of sport, but as with all things give and take is in order

Last night it was between Reading and Bradford, an FA 1/4 final replay

Chris has followed Reading forever, and his Dad and Grandad before

In fact his father´s ashes are buried near the goal post

so it was very poignant last night for his team, that has been suffering its struggles, to reach this point.

so!

can you picture the scene, nail biting, edge of seat stuff

various comments of encouragement and then...within minutes.....

Reading score..............roarrrrr, jumping about and other whoooops.......

well....

there were cats flying everywhere from their safe little havens, where they were soundly asleep

wondering what the dickens was going on,

two raced the length of the house for the cat flap only to collide in their rush,

 others looked totally bewildered when they arrived in the dining room

 then decided it was best to see if any goodies were in the food bowl

other ran then turned and glared

they had just settled down again thinking it was safe

when.................

they scored again..........

the noise was so deafening it was difficult to register it was from one person

that did it

they all fled

every single one of the 9 - disappeared

have to admit so did Rebecca and I

there was another repeat performance with even more volume when a 3rd goal was scored

It was only after this when things quietened, did peace reign once again in the cat kingdom

goodness only knows what will happen in the semi´s

 

right, off to do tonight´s dinner

what to have, ooh let´s go and look

take care

xcx

 

 



Splash of colour

Although it seems a while ago now, I did enjoy my second hot stone massage, unfortunately we continued to have things go wrong, including having water cascading down the landing walls, down the stairs into the dining room and lounge - all because the electronic sensor in the float switch of the top water tank ceased. All fixed now though and we did have beautifully clean stairs (they are all tiles, so no damage).  At last apart from one thing, all the pumps and systems seems to be working, but sshhhhhhh don't say anything!

I had a lovely Mother's day (for the first half) as Rebecca had stayed over so we started off with some beautiful gifts, a fold away shopping bag, candle holders and vanilla scented candles, a beautiful amethyst crystal and a rose quartz one too.

We decided to investigate the market at Pedreguer, about 35 minute drive away.  It was very large and we only managed to see half of it.  There were some very good plant stalls and as I got a bit carried away, we had to do two trips to the car....

I also bought several plant plugs of tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, and cauliflower, these were to go with the lettuce plants I have already been bringing on. A medium sized rosemary, a lavender and a pot of chocolate mint found their way into my box too.

This is a photo of a huge thyme plant that Rebecca and Antoni gave to me

We had a lovely break for coffee and a bite at the cafe, then continued on for the veggie shopping.  We had taken the bag on wheels, something everyone seems to have over here and hunted out the bargains.  We found strawberries 2kg for 3 euros, avacados 2kg 4e, carrots 4kg 2e, 2 large cauliflowers for 1e and 3 large heads of brocolli for 1e, they were the best deals but we ended up having to do a double run back to the car to unload  the goodies.  We shared everything out and filled our fridges with the thoughts of brocolli soup, carrot, apples ginger and lemon juices and smoothies packed with yummy fruit and roasted veg. A 2kg bag of lemons was only 1e, freshly picked and unwaxed, the zest knocks you back when you grate it.

Sadly this is where the day started to go down hill.  Rebecca had been experiencing pains and rapid heartbeats etc for a little while and on our journey back home had started to feel unwell.  The whole thing was beginning to feel very frightening so we ended up in the ER. Mention pain, palpitations and the heart and boy do they move! Hooked up to the ECG machine, etc and results and Rebecca whisked into the doctor straight away.  X ray, bloods, calming words, then the wait for results, but then they lost a phial and had to retake 'what!' more waiting, but we were eventually allowed home about 10pm, we arrived at 5.30, with the promise of chasing up the Doppler tests, a new appointment with the consultant and some meds. 

The doctor was absolutely brilliant, and very easy on the eyes!! he had total empathy with us as he had also been on the journey with his young wife, sharing his story with us whilst at the same time trying to compose himself. He was very reassuring, took all the time Rebecca needed and promised all the follow ups, he also suggested that this may be because Rebecca is trying to gain back her life and it could be her body´s way of saying no been through enough and not ready.  We shall see.

Whilst it was not the planned Mother´s day it in fact reinforced the very essence of the meaning, just being a caring, loving, supporting Mum ready to do whatever is necessary, and we did spend the whole day together.

 Jo asked  what projects we had been working on recently so I thought it was about time I posted something. 

 A Mother´s day card for MIL, I chose size 11 seed beads for the butterfly

 

A random mix of little motifs ready to be made into either gift tags or notelets

Miniatures have been featuring a little heavily of late, these are a pair of rustic garden chairs I made from bamboo skewers

I have been asked to take the next club workshop which will be making flowers and pot plants, so I asked hubby for an arbor to fix trailing plants to, space for troughs and hanging baskets.  This is what he has made so far

Now I need to make the flowers, similar to the ones in the garden above and design the garden, some will be thread, others from tissue paper, an office hole punch creates just the right size for making petals. Mind you glasses and tweezers are a must lol.



Just made some carrot, apple, ginger and lemon juice but it disappeared before I could take a photo, yum.  Turkey marinating in lemon, ginger, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and garlic so must go and make the spinach rice and stir fry.

take care

xcx