Here is my update on the Wedding Sampler. Sara's wedding is on Saturday, and of course it won't be finished, but she is away now until the 10th of April (firstly, her wedding is in Devon, and then off to her honeymoon in Croatia.). I'm confident I can do it by that day.
Had to go to Hobbycraft today, because I had run out of DMC212 (the dark red in the flowers). There was a notice in the shop by the DMC colours saying something like: 'As many other retailers, we are currently facing difficulties with supply. If you wish to substitute for another brand we can assist you.' Wonder what that is all about.

We went to a dog show yesterday at Port Lymphe Safari Park. My friend Rachel sort of 'talked me into it', as I wasn't too sure - long journey, high petrol prices, and how would Bonnie react with all those other dogs - I was sure she's gonna go crazy. But it was a great day. The journey took not that long, motorway was almost deserted. The weather was fantastic. And Bonnie was sooo good. Every now and again, if another dog gave her a 'strange' look, she would bark etc, but apart from that, she was as good as gold. Didn't even pull me - funny that is, if she sees ONE dog when I take her out for a walk, she will pull like mad, but with hundreds of dogs in one place she is fine. She didn't win any prices, but came under the first 8 under the 'prettiest bitch' category.

Me and My Dog show http://www.totallywild.net/events/index.php?p=show_event&id=201&bn=63.

And that's what Bonnie does to my plants in the garden:

Yep, that WAS a nice plant!

You have to make space for this book, it took the best part of a year for me to read. I read on Amazon it is the longest written in English language, well, my edition has 1474 pages. Part of the problem, of course, is that I couldn't take this book on the train communte with me, so it stayed on my bedsite table and I only ever read it before going to bed.
The story is set in India, shortly after gaining Independance from British rule. It is, at this core, a love story. There are so many characters, it is hard to keep track, and the family trees of the 4 main families at the beginning of the book proved very handy. The main character, if there is one, is Lata, a young girl living with her widowed mother, and her mother's quest to get her married. And, of course, Lata seems to fall for the most unsuitalbe of all, a Muslim boy. But there are other candidates... well, I had my favourite and was a bit disappointed with her choice at the end, and I really had to be strong this time - not peeking at the last pages ;-)) .
But the story is by no means only about Lata and her family. There are 3 other main families, and all are somehow one way or another interlinked, either by marriage, politics, friendship etc. My favorite character was Maan, who was so desparately in love with Saeeda Bai, the courtesane, and this love should prove to be all consuming and fateful for him. All the characters are beautifully crafted, even minor one's which we meet only on a few pages. I got a bit bored in the middle when there was a long section on politics, India holding an election. And apart from the fact that I was disappointed with Lata's choice, I also missed a 'proper' ending on some of the other characters, such as Maan. But I suppose that's were our imagination can come in.
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I finally got my laptop back - and my home insurance paid and arranged for the repair - gosh, I'm so relieved.

The day never seem to have enough hours... I started to pick up the wedding sampler again only last week. Unfortunately, I have to set priorities with the Open University at the moment. God, I hate the course this year, I wish it was over. I have so far submitted 3 assignments, 3 more to go. 1 is due mid June, and a big project is due mid July. I have to interview people for this and write it all up with conclusion etc, so I really want (have to) get a start on it.

I have been finishing quite a few books recently and will hopefully write a few reviews in the next few days/weeks.

Bonnie is absolutley fine. She had her immunisations, and she has managed to lose some weight, she is now 35 kg which is fine for a Labrador bitch. So I must be doing something right taking her out every day.

Here is the start of Sara's wedding sampler. I've done all that over the weekend, it's about 10% I'd say. The little flowers will form a heart shape, and the name of bride and groom sort of go in the middle. I will work on it every other week, and I had a look in my diary - the wedding is middle of June! this week is Poodle-week. That project is obviously not so urgent now, as Rachel's birthday is gone ...la la la.... maybe I should aim for her birthday next year or Christmas LOL.

Yesterday was a lovely day for a change, the sun was out, and I took Bonnie for a long walk across the road from us. It's a sort of brownfield side where a new (small) housing side is being build, and they also develop the fields into parks with cyclepaths etc. So far, it is very nice to walk as not many people know about it, and no one as actually moved into the new housing development. I hardly meet anyone on my walks - gosh, this is relaxing! Yesterday, Bonnie made friends with an old Golden Retriever lady called Betsy. After the inital exictement, both just calmly ignored each other, I was well proud of Bonnie. But a bit later we met a huge German Shepard, and the owner just pulled him away desperately to the other side - while at the same time both dogs were just pulling towards each other.

The day at work had'nt been too bad. I feared it will be manic, as it always is on Mondays, and I was on call over the weekend as well. It could have been worse I suppose, and I finished at 2pm again, ready to pick Ruby up from school.

Here is the reason - well, one of them, why I haven't been around too much. This is the latest edition to our family - Bonnie, a two year old labrador bitch. We got her at the end from a private sale. I wasn't too sure if I would keep her at the beginning. She wasn't used to walking on the lead and pulled me right - left - centre when I took her out. But she is perfectly housetrained and is as good as gold when we leave her alone in the house. And I guess everyone sort of fell in love with her quickly, she is very good-natured. I got rid of the choke chain and now bought one of those 'Halti' leads which goes around the mouth - so much better, and she doesn't pull half as much. I take her out every day after work for 1 hour, and for 2 hours at the weekend. Yes, I am dead-tired at the end of the evening, but believe it or not, it is actually quite relaxing after a day's work just to walk with her and forget about all those little annoying things in live.

What didn't help as well was that my laptop broke. I still haven't found out exactly what happened , but Imran was on the laptop (which he is not allowed anyway) and closed it with a bang. the cats were in the same room as well. When I came back and opened the laptop, half of the screen was gone. No physical damage on the outside, but all the pixels are completly messed up. as the laptop is less than 1 year old, we took it straight back were we bought it (Curry's), but they refused to help, saying that this sort of damage is not a material fault, but always accidental damage which is not covered under the warranty. To cut the long story short, my home insurance accepted the claim and I just have to see now whether it will be repaired or replaced. In the meantime, I work on half the screen only ;-))

I hardly did any cross stitch recently. There is plenty to do, but I'm just always too tired at the end of the evening. I went to the Cross Stitch Fair end of March in Olympia which was great as usual. Well, I'm a great fan of those type of Fairs. I haven't finished Rachel's poodle, of course not. So far, 1 1/2 pages done (of 6 all together). Sara's wedding is coming up in June, and I still did only, well, less than 5% I'd guess.

The Open University is keeping me busy as well... I think I have said before that I really really don't enjoy this year's course (Social Psychology). I just don't get a lot of it, because it is based not on Cognitive (experiments etc), but more on qualitative approaches such as discursive and influenced by philosophy - which is absolutely not my thing, sorry all philosophers out there. Anyway, I just try to get through with it. 2 assignments done so far - only 4 to go, and the examn in October of course. The next assignment is a preparation for a project, and the literature research for this kept me busy, and I hope I can at least write up parts of it tomorrow.'

Reading wise - currently I am reading two books, which is very unlike me, as I would normally always finish one before going on to the next. Reason is that 'A suitable boy' from Vikram Seth is over 1400 pages and not always easy to read. The other book is a German book from Johannes Mario Simmel 'Wir heissen euch hoffen'. This is an Austrian author, and I quite like his style of writing. I first read this book as a teenager, and now re-reading, I find that I understand many things much better. for example, he descripes a mental illnes and psychosis.

The weather has been awful so far here this year - no sign really of spring. Rain almost every day. I finally had my garden fence done, but didn't manage so far to do any planting.

Well, I said I'd try to be a better blogger *sigh*. I had last week off - had to use my left-over annual leave before April. We thought we gonna get our dog, but it hasn't happened yet. Rather than getting a puppy, we'll wait for a rescue poodle to come along (which Rachel is going to keep her eyes out for me) - I tought that is the best solution for the time being.

Had a lot of trouble in the house with plumbing - leaking taps and sink. I called the chaps from Britisch Gas (have an insurance with them), and they don't do taps and sinks. So... I had to call a plumber from the Yellow Pages - and the sad thing is that I knew what is going to happen, and it happened of course - I got badly ripped off. He came, took everything apart, put it together again and told me he can't fix it - it must be a faulty tap or whatever.... Now I still have a badly leaking tap and sink, and payed £100 for the pleasure!

Here is my update on the poodle. Page 1 is ready, only 5 more to go. I have to admit defeat, I don't think it will be ready for Rachel's birthday begining of April, I'm just not quick enough, there is a lot of confetti stitches, and unfortunately there is the small matter of me having to work all day, so stitching is limited to abt. 2 hours every evening.