Medway's snip and my new camera

And here he is, our little man - or not any more? Yes, Medway's had the snip today. Dropped him off at the vets in the morning amidst loud protests from the family (and from him!), but I'm just too aware that not castrated tom cats will just stray and get into fights, and also... he started spraying around the house - now that's something I can definitely without. So, here is his first picture as a new 'man':

My new camera arrived last week - after a week of reading endless reviews online and (most importantly I guess) trying compact cameras out at the shop, I went for a Canon Powershot SX210. One off the main selling points for me was the exceptionally hight zoom range of 15x optical zoom, so I've almost got a mini-DSLR which can easily fit in my pocket. The other point was that I am used to the Canon models e.g. the buttons, software, layout is easily recognised by me, and this is so much easier than getting used to a completely new model.

The first few days I went through all the shooting opions and found it surprisingly easy to get to grips with it, in short  - I love my new camera. ok, it won't replace an DSLR, but it has many of the functions a DSLR will give you and is so handy for travelling, well, even if I walk the dog across the road, it is much easier to fit this little baby in my pocket, and also I won't attract unwanted attention as I sometimes feel quite uncomfortable having a big and very expensive looking DSLR around my neck.

So, here are a few shots from last weekend and today:

Beacon Wood Country Park, view to Southfleet

Beacon Wood Country Park

' The Bridge' Estate, just across the road from us.

Again, at 'The Bridge', view to Dartford Bridge.

There is light at the end of the tunnel.

Lazy Saturday and my first walk

Weekend is here - not that it makes a difference to me at the moment. I had a bit of a scare last night when I realised that my scar is bleeding. Not badly, but... I hope this is not a setback, it's now 12 days after the surgery. I didn't lift anything heavy or anything like that, basically all I did was sitting here on my desk with the laptop, and sitting in the armchair stitching. All that sitting must have done it LOL.

The weather is really mild here at the moment, around 11 degree C,and nice winter sunshine. After some 'gentle' persuation on my part Nafees agreed to go out with me to walk Bonnie. I am really missing walking the dog, not to mention the look Bonnie gives me every time I walk past the closet with the 'dog-walking' stuff, her leads etc. But she is much too strong unforunately for me to walk her by myself. If there is no-one else around, it's fine, but if another dog appears on the scene...different story, than I won't be able to hold her in my current past-OP state. Here are a few impressions:

Nafees with Bonnie Honey outside our house, making a dash for it.

Across the road from us.

Who can resist a kitten?

I could watch the cats and their sleeping positions all day. Here is Medway in my room, feeling obviously very relaxed. He is now 4.5 months old, and started to go out which is always a big worry for me. But I still believe a cat is an animal and needs to go out, even with all the risks. Just yesterday I looked at some pictures of Thomas when he was a kitten (which is really just about 3 years ago) and felt soooo sad, it is still painful that we lost him last year. Thommuuu where-ever you are now, we think of you. You would have liked little Medway.

Thomas

Everyone at work liked this picture. Thomas looks absolutely enourmous, almost as big as Ruby but honestly it just looks like that in the picture, he is just one big fluffball.



-- Post From My iPhone

Nafees is finally back from Pakistan and now I realise how much I've actually missed him. I had to pick him up from Heathrow which is about 60 miles from here, all the way around the M25. As it was Saturday afternoon, the motorway was clear. Only problem was, when we came back, it was already quite dark, and I hate driving in the dark as I can't see very well. That's only if there are no street lights, driving in cities is fine. Anyway, as it was so dark and I tried hard just to stay in my lane, I missed the turn-off for the M25 at one stage, and found myself in the wrong lane and ended up on the M20 towards Maidstone. I got off the next junction, and found familiar sounding town and village names, so I found my way home via country lanes.

Nafees brought beautiful clothes for Ruby, and Jeans for the boys. a lot of fashion jewellery and bangles for Ruby, 2 Asian dresses for me, watches for the children and lots of stuff for the house (bedlinen, kitchen utensils), and food which his mum cooked and they had it canned.



I haven't shown pictures of the cats for a while, and I thought those are quite cute. There is Honey (or is it Candy?) getting all comfy on my Frederick the Literate (which I had stretched out on my bed as I was about to frame it). And here are 3 of our cates all stretched out on my bed.

Nafees left for Pakistan yesterday, and I felt somewhat lost. I am usually quite happy just with my own company, and certainly I know how to occupy myself, the day is never long enough for me, so I didn't expect this. I suppose this is because Naf is my best friend as much as my DH.. . and isn't it true what they say... you only miss something if you don't have it any more. Well, enough ''cause he is gonna come back in just 4 weeks. Thomas kept my company here in my room as you can see. And I get looots of cross stitch done - I worked on Spring Queen for the whole of last evening, and enjoyed it enourmously.

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous this weekend. Nice warm September sun, and autumn is unmistakingly on its way. It's a bit too dry for more fungi to come at the moment. I took some rosehips and brought them inside, they are now on my kitchen windowsill, I was surprised by how beautiful this simple idea looks. Should have thought of this earlier and might get some more today.

Finally, I can show an update on the NH afghan. Actually *drum rolls* its the 1st square done! I quite enjoy working on it - it's so different from my usual pictures. it's a bit strange having all that fabric to work with - but I know the end result will be stunning.


Thomas finally went to the vet this week to have his snip-snip. It all went well, but I can't help but think that he has changed a bit. He used to be a very affectionate cat, he'd literally lick your face off if you'd let him, and was following me all around the house. Well, he seemed more distant it seems. Maybe just some 'afterpains' from the op...

I've got the sock knitting bug again - when I really should do my Christmas stitching. This happens to me ever now and again - I just don't fancy cross stitch but knitting. Ever since I first started to knit socks I loved it. I did a pair for my mum last Christmas, and she actually loved something I did hee hee, and she keeps wearing them around the house. I was surprised how straight forward it was. Usually with knitting, I get myself into a pickle with the sizes, especially with garments like jumpers, cardigans etc. they are always too big or too small or whatever, that really puts me off. But with the socks, its not too difficult. And don't I just love this self-patterning yarn! This one is from Opal.
We went to a bonfire and fireworks display here in Darford. Spend what seems like a fortune on silly things like candy floss and fairground rides for the children. Danial and his friend Matt Ruby and CaseyNow who's the Lord of the Manor!

Here's a little 'quickie' I started today. It's stitched with Caron Waterlilies. I've never used this thread before, and never worked with varigated thread. Took a bit of getting used to finishing every single cross off before going on to the next, but I can see already that the effect is going to be stunning! .

The weather is still very nice, we had around 20 degreeC. I was too lazy to go swimming, I'm getting a bit worried 'cause I seem to forget all about my 'getting fit' regime. Problem is, 2 days off at the weekends are never enough to do everything I want to fit in. Today I went to Hobbycraft in Crayford, mainly to get myself a Clover Cutter for the airplane on Thursday. Gosh, I am so looking forward to Langenzenn. For 5 days, only cross stitch and natter - nothing else - bliss!

And what is it with cats and boxes? Candy here:

Great news - Candy has come back, after 1 week. Imran called me in the morning when I was on my way to the station. She was wet (? no rain in the past 2 weeks) but otherwise absolutely fine, she does not even look particularly thin. I don't believe in keeping cats indoors, and it wouldn't be practicable here anyway - in the summer I always have the backgarden door open when I'm at home. So I can only hope that whenever she goes out, she will come back again in the morning. As I'm sitting on my bedroom window, Raja, Candy and Honeyare out. I called already, but Peckham sisters didn't make an appearance so far. I'm convinced they are going over the motorway bridge into the wasteland which is opposite our house. The area is currently being developed, is used to be a meeting ground for bunches of teenagers drinking and messing around.

1 more day and it's weekend. I will definitely have to start making a revision plan for the exams - 10th October is getting ever closer. I have good ideas what to revise, but don't have the energy during the week. And next weekend I'm at Kimmy's already - boy, I can't wait! I'm going to meet up with my cross-stiching friends in Germany.

Yesterday was OU dayschool - exam preparation. I'm so glad I went, the tutor was 1st class and now I'm clear on what to revise and how to get started. So next week I can start in the evenings to put some summery sheets together. I will revise 4 topics: what is crime, crime/statistics/media, cause of crime theories, Braithwaite/Matza. With this, I will be covered to answer the 3 questions.

Moonlight.
o
I don't know what's going on. Our cat Moonlight has been missing since middle of July now. No clue whatsoever. And now Candy is missing as well, since about Wednesday. I can't believe it. Now Moonlight has been missing before, a few years back, but never so long. And Candy has never been missing, she goes out at night but is always back in the morning. I have a very bad feeling and start to get desperate.

I had 3 call-outs last night and feel really tired today. I don't actually have to go to the scene, but deal with most stuff on the phone, but once you get called 2am, it's not that easy going back to sleep.

Imran lost his new phone yesterday... I told him I will definitely not buy him another one - £50 down the drain. But my new routine seems to work. I do a weekly 'eating' plan,and we have a tight schedule now every evening for the kids to keep to - 7pm food, 8pm homework, 9pm bed. So far, it works really well and everyone is keeping to it.

And today, I finally started to pick up my cross stitch again. I found it difficult to arrange my new 'stitching area' in the living room since we've got the new settee and my big old armchair is gone. I picked up the Glasgow Rose cat again, will show an update after the weekend.

Here's 1 part of the new settee (and Thomas caliming his seat)

I went back to Curry's today, because one of the buttons of my laptop (the '8') had come off. Felt like crying when I saw it - don't know what happened, maybe one of the cats jumped on it. Anyway, they've fixed it for me right there and then, it's perfect again. And because Hobbycraft is next door's to Curry's , I had a good browse there as well. I was going to buy a Janlynn kit which I try to stitch for a good friend. Couldn't find it so I had to order it online with sewandso. I was itching to start right away - oh well. but I still had to get a cat picture 'Kats by Kelly' which was reduced to £2.99 (from £13.99). No idea which century I will stitch this, but the two cats look so much like Candy and Honey, I couldn't possibly resist.

And here is my fav. picture of Thomas. He is sitting on Dan's pool table.

Here's Dan, making bread! He's had cooking lessons in school today, and he liked it so much, he came home and made some more bread. Now I'm not a domestic goddess I have to admit, indeed, I never made bread in my life! and there is my 13 year old, baking bread. I'm still waiting for those terrible teenage hormones to get through, but Dan has been a real pleasure of lately.


And here's an update on the Glasgow rose cat from last week. I got too bored with only black, so I started to add a bit of the border. Anyway, only the tail to go.d

I've got this week off, it's great just having some time to myself. Spend a lot of time working on TMA04 (currently 1400 words and counting, I need 2000 words).

Well, all the kittens are gone now, and here is the last picture of the little 'Blackies'

A family responded to my ad in the local newsagent, and in a way I'm quite pleased they went to a local family (they just live 5 mins from us), they seemed really nice. And they took 2, even better that two of them can stay together. And that leaves us with Thomas, of course, who turns out to be very cuddly. he follows me during the day wherever I go... up to the computer, to the loo etc. And Candy and Honey finally had their operation on Monday, now both are neutered and definitely no more babies! I'm glad it's done and went smoothly. Both now have a big square patch missing by the side where their fur has been cut - they look more than bizarre! from the top: Honey (incl. missing fur patch), Thomas, Raja

Kitten Big Brother House

Another one of the kittens went last night, the last tabby one. A family with 4 children from Woolwich. They seemed really nice and were besotted with the kitten straight away - I'm sure she's gonna have a good home- now we've got only the 3 black ones left (+ Thomas of course). Imran said it's like Kitten Big Brother: Every day another kitten is leaving 'Tabby, pack your bags, you have 5 minutes to leave the house'. I do feel quite upset in a way. Here's one last reminder

:

Last weekend, 3 of the kittens went to their new homes, with Jake. I'm quite pleased because I know where they are going, and I know that his family are real cat lovers as well. And we can still visit at least one of the kittens who will stay with Jake, the other two are going to his grandma.
Well, this leaves us with 6 (5 if you discount Thomas, it is now final that he will stay with us I guess, much to Danial's delight.
An update on the Cat picture from the previous week:
I suddenly felt like knitting last week, and completed 9 squares for the blanket (this is from the magazine where they send you 4 magazines every 4 weeks or so, and each of them has - apart from other things - a tiny bit of woll for a square which eventually forms a blanket. The knitting was fun - I really started to enjoy it and thought I'm starting a knitting-phase. However, disaster struck when I tried to iron the piece (as recommended!). I used of course the lowest iron-setting, and put the square between two thick towel - but even so, the wool almost disolved from even this small heat! It surely must be the cheapest of the cheapest acryl wool. I don't have enough wool to knit the spoiled square again. Suppose could use some wool from my stash, but I lost the will to knit at the moment!

Sleepy time
Thomas
Food Time
Ruby caught me napping after a long day, and Raja obviously had the same idea

Long awaited weekend - as every week! I'm on call though, and I was called this morning while out in ASDA! So tomorrow I'll spend my afternoon in the mortuary... Nafees' 1st week in his new job is over, and he is very happy. It is more the programming side of computing, which is more related to his field of study and he feels he can build a career with them.

The kittens drive me mad, destroying my nice curtains, not finding the litter tray...

update on last week's project - Glasgow Rose Cat. I started it on Saturday, so not much to see, however, you can already guess what it's going to be, can't you. Not much stitching this week, have to do some serious study work. My assignment is due next week Wednesday, and I haven't even got it to draft stage. I resort again to getting up earlier, just too tired in the evening to do any studying.

and Kittens all over the place now. I spend 1hr cleaning after them after day, it can only get better ;-)