An English Pub

My bread machine failed this morning, or rather the mixture I out in it did. The yeast must have been off because when it bleeped to tell me it had done it's job all I found inside was a shrivelled, dark brown blob. Dam, no bread for lunch and I had not planned on doing any shopping as I had other calls on my time.
by midday my most pressing jobs were done and I look out the window to see the sun was trying it's best but there were clearly rain clouds gathering in the distance. Best take brac for his walk now and maybe I won't get wet. I give mum a ring to see if she wants to join me. she is having to do more exercise on doctor's orders so joining me on dog walks is ideal. "give me 10 minutes and I'll meet you in the normal place". I hang up and wander into the kitchen to pick up my car keys. I remember I don't have nay bread for lunch. Back on the phone to mum, "shall we get a pub lunch?" "Great, that would be nice."
There is a 14th century pub, called 'The chequers' about a mile and a half away with a reasonable area for walking next to it by the river. The pub is quite rustic, nothing fancy, plain but good food, beams, open fire in winter, tables that don't have little brass numbers set into them, friendly atmosphere and happy to accept dogs. Basically the quintessential English pub. I collect mum and we head for it. the rain clouds are building so we decide to walk first and eat after.
The walk does wonders for my appetite and we are quite looking forward to getting back to the pub. We walk in and purchase some drinks, puruse the menu and order some food. We sat down at a table opposite the bar and Brac lies down at my side. I was vaguely aware that the girl serving was new but thought little of it.
The people at the next table start making a fuss of Brac who is all too happy for the attention. He often gets a fuss made of him here, even the chef would come out and give him a hug as he liked Border collies. but things have changed. we are about half way through our meal when an older lady comes over to us to ask which of us owned the dog. "I do" I said. "We don't allow dogs in here when people are eating" she replies as if it has always been so and I should know.
"Since when? I've been coming here for years and there has never been a problem?"
"It's the law".
"Only if you class yourself as a restaurant. It's no illegal in a pub." I respond.
"Well it our rules."
"Brac was always made a fuss of by your staff before"
"That was the previous owners, we've only been here 3 month. You can take him outside in the garden next time." but I had already decided there wasn't going to be a 'Next time'.
We finished our meal and left. No coffee or desert and no intention of returning. Dogs make pubs, they are part of the fixtures and fittings in my book. As traditional as an open fire.
Before we left the people at the next table made a big show of fussing Brac some more. I knew they felt the same as me.
Now back to that bread machine.

We Girls Rock

Hey, I've just been tagged by s'mores and margaritas as a 'Rocking Girl Blogger'
All I need to do now is nominate & tag 5 other of my blogging girl friends who can then copy this logo to their blog. They in-turn get to do the same for 5 of their girl friends respectively (but only if they want to, no obligation). I wonder how long it will be before all female bloggers are tagged? Not long I'm sure. Still, here goes.
Frenchless in France - a very talented photographer living and absorbing France to the full.
Downsizing in Minnesota - her sister living in the US with some very cute pets.
An Aussie, a Frenchman and a Burmese - well mainly an Aussie living with the rest in France with an eye for nature.
Manic Mom's Mental Myriads - a publisher mum with a great family.
LittleSpoon - A soon-to-be-wed secretary with a cute new pup in her life.

Not Feeling Lucky

Brac and I had another obedience competition today. Each class is divided into two sections. There is the heelwork section that you do individually that involves heelwork, retrieves and recalls. The other section is the stays. these are done as a group so all the dogs in the class have to sit stay and down stay for a given length of time with you standing away from them. When you book in to your class you need to make a note of the time the stays for that class are being held. I booked in and noted my stay time 12.50 which I wrote on my competitor number tag so I wouldn't forget. I worked Brac in and when I was ready entered the class. Brac was really good and I knew as we were going round that we were in with a good chance of winning. When we finished the round the judge told me we had only lost 2 points which according to the score sheet put us in the lead with only two more dogs to work. I checked the stay times, 12.50. It was only 11am so I had plenty of time so went to get a drink. I sat there sipping thinking to myself 'did I check those times correctly? Could it have been 12.30 not 12.50?' I had to check again so I wandered back to the ring. I noticed now that all the dogs had competed and yes we were in the lead. Doing the stays for him was just a formality. I look at the time, yes it is definitely a 5 not a 3. I go back to my car and sit and read for a while setting an alarm on my phone for 12.30 to remind me. The time drags so I take Brac for a quick walk. I bump into a friend and we compare notes. I keep watching my watch mindful that I have missed my stay time once before because I was engrossed in conversation. 12.40, I need to be waiting by the stay ring. I go there but I don't recognise anyone. Another class is in the ring finishing their stays, when they come out I ask the steward to confirm that this was Beginner Dog Stays to which he replied, "No, it's Novice Dog part 2 Stays now." My heart sank so I asked him what time were the Beginner Dog Stays. "12.05" was the answer. I had read it back to front and each time I had re-checked I had just seen what I expected to see and not what was there. The result is we were disqualified and once again returned home empty handed. I can't believe I could have been so blind. Hey ho!

Feeling Lucky

We flew up to the gliding club again this weekend. Paul took Friday off and so we were able to go a day early. The weather was sultry and hazy. Visibility in the air was poor to say the least so we decided not to do any gliding. Gliders are tricky to see in the air at the best of times and when it is hazy they become almost invisible so the risk of a mid air collision increases especially as once you find a good thermal other gliders get attracted to you to share in your good fortune. Powered aircraft like to keep away from each other but gliding frequently happens in a gaggle so you need to keep your wits about you and your eyes skinned. As my medical expired and is not now due to be renewed until the 27th, I was grounded anyway.
Luckily, our gliding site is in the Midlands on the edge of the Cotswolds. If gliding is not an option there are so many other things to do. For any of you that are not unfamiliar with this area is an area of outstanding natural beauty. It's also Shakespeare's country as Stratford-upon-Avon is only a few miles down the road. It's a great part of the country to simply chill out and 'smell the roses'. Which is precisely what we did. The photo above was taken just above a neighbouring Cotswolds town of Broadway. We walked down this hill into the town where we called in for a cream tea before walking back again. As I walked through this field it occurred to me just how lucky I was to be able to enjoy all this almost as often as we want. I felt like simply laying down in the grass and listening to the buzzards calling overhead, but the need for refreshment was a stronger desire so we wandered on admiring the view instead while Brac chased pheasants out of the long grass.
Can't wait for next weekend.

Egg On My Face

A couple of days ago I used 2 egg whites in some cooking I was doing. Not wishing to waste the yolks I put them in a cup with enough water to cover and placed them in the fridge. they will keep this way for a couple of days and can be used in cooking to richen various foods. As we went away for the weekend they didn't get used and I forgot to use them yesterday. Instead of throwing them away I thought I would give them to Brac on his breakfast. He used to have eggs with his puppy food when we first had him. I then had second thoughts. what if they have gone off and give him diarrhoea? I decide to poach them first so they are well cooked. to do this I put them in the microwave in their cup of water and give them 2 minutes on full power. I check them, they are not fully cooked, still a little soft so thought to be safe I should give them another minute. the microwave pings and the water in the cup is frothing over the rim. I reach in and take hold of the cup handle. As I lift it out I'm thinking I'm going to have to wait for them to cool a little before I give them to Brac when suddenly there's a bang. In that instant I close my eyes, feel the cup go light and something spray across my face. My hand is still in the over holding the now very light cup handle and my eyes are still tightly shut. "Oh sh*t" I'm thinking, "that wasn't a microwaveable cup." My next thought was "If that cup has exploded that close I'm lucky to still have my eyes" Even thoght they were closed I could feel they were OK. I open them, yep, they're OK. I look towards the oven. It's a mess. Then I notice the cup still intact in my hand. It's just the contents that have exploded and plastered the oven. My eyes wander further only to realise it's not just the oven that's plastered; it's the whole kitchen including me. I the see Brac. He is sitting outside the kitchen peering in with egg yolk dripping from his eye lashes. That's it for me. We have just entered silly world and I know if Paul had been there to watch he would have been gripped in an uncontrollable bought of laughter. I look in the mirror; I have egg all over my t-shirt, splattered across my face and welded to my hair. How can 2 yolks go so far?
It's all cleared up now but I know I will still be finding bits of egg yolk in odd places in the kitchen for weeks to come.

My Weekend

Now our aeroplane is fixed we are gradually getting back into our old routine. That is to say, 50% of our weekends during the summer we fly up to a gliding site in the Midlands and go gliding. We are both very rusty so have got a lot of ground to make up. Still we did get our glider out of it's box and Paul flew it both days. My medical has expired :-( so I can't fly solo until I get that sorted hopefully in another couple of weeks. Instead I flew as navigator in the back of a two seat glider for a cross country exercise. This is a photo I took of Paul (not doing as well as us) from the back of the two seater. The gliding airfield is visible in the top of the picture just right of centre. I although I enjoy navigating and there is a lot to learn flying with someone else it does tend to cause me to get travel sick. I get travel sick map reading in a car! Luckily it didn't get messy but I was aware of the possibility all the way around but wasn't going to let on. Luckily, I'm not affected by it when I'm do.uing the flying but then I don't get the chance to take photos.

Sleep.

I saw this image on flickr and it's got to be a classic. How many mornings have you felt just like this? I can certainly identify with the lioness. Paul moans at me because I'm an 7-8 hours a night person when he survives on 5-6 hours. Mind you, there is a difference between living and surviving and I'm not the one that falls asleep when we go out anywhere in the evening. :-)
Paul is most definitely a lark to my owl, something that is becoming more obvious the older we get.

A very Satifying Day

OK so the weather and my PC might have prevented us from going away this weekend but that doesn't mean it was a complete washout. Yesterday was a very satisfying day. It started with Paul bringing me breakfast in bed. This always leads to something else as for some reason breakfast in bed makes me feel very playful:-) Them Paul fixed my PC...it's no wonder I married this guy! After lunch we took Brac for a long walk in the woods. Then we went shopping and bought some beautiful sea bass for dinner that I cooked baked in salt (the salt forms a hard shell that evenly distributes the heat and doesn't penetrate the fish at all) and served with a Mediterranean style potato dish with tomatoes and onions. Really scrummy.
That was followed by strawberries & cream, espresso coffee and an episode of Dr Who (A cult SciFi series over here in the UK) with the three of us all cuddled up on the sofa. Heaven.

I'm Back!

My lovely husband has fixed it for me. It was the power supply. Apparently it wasn't up to the job that was being asked of it so it's a wonder it didn't pack in before. We were originally planning on flying off somewhere for the long weekend but as the weather was well and truly against us (Dull today but heavy rain and wind for Sunday & Monday for all of England, Channel Islands and NW France) we decided to go to PC World instead to buy a new power supply. It's now installed and to my great relief works fine. Hopefully for several more years.
If that hadn't cured the problem it would have meant a new PC even though mine is less than 3 years old (old in 'techie' terms but still new by my reckoning). The thought of re-installing everything on a new system as well as having to accept Windows Vista was really daunting. So, I was so pleased that when I pressed that button on the front of my machine it sprang into life once more and everything was just as I left it.
Still the experience was not without a positive note. I thought I had just about everything covered in respect of backing up in the event of a PC failure but it's not until it does happen that you find out what you've missed. My photographic printer I use for my pet portraits is only accessible from this PC including all the printer profiles for ensuring the printer prints exact colours. Another even greater oversight is that I had stored all my login, password and registration details for various web sites, e-mail accounts and software on this PC and these had not been backed up. If I had had to buy a replacement PC I would have been stuffed trying to install a lot of the software I have without the registration details. All this will have to be amended so I am better prepared next time.

Cut Off

Today my PC died. I think the power unit has burnt out. I am using Paul's PC to write this but it's not convenient and I don't have access to my e-mail on this PC. Hense it is going to be difficult for me to keep up-to-date with blogging until I get back up and running. Hopefully fairly soon fingers crossed.

Another Show, Another Rosette (but only just!)

Brac and I went to our second show of the season. I took Paul with me today which is unusual but he was happy to go and as I have now got a tent that I can set up as a stool for my Pet Portraits I thought this would be ideal. He could man the stool while I worked Brac. Nice idea but Paul's salesman techniques were sadly lacking. He kept telling me of the 'ones that got away' and in each case he failed even to give them so much as a leaflet. I actually came home with the same mount of leaflets I went with and I don't do that even if I'm not there to give them out! He meant well and I would have struggled to get the tent up without him.
As for Brac. Still very excited about going to shows. He saw me packing the car last night so knew it was a show day this morning. Brac sleeps in his kennel outside and each morning when I go out to let him in he is always in his kennel. This morning I was up much earlier than normal and he was ready and waiting for me at the back door.
He was full of enthusiasm throughout the day and when he worked his beginners round he did some lovely heel work. His recall was spot on but his last test was a retrieve and just when I thought I was in with a chance he decided otherwise. He charged at the dumbbell, ran around the ring with it chomping on it as he went and when he did finally present it to me he refused to give it up without a fight. Not exactly what the judge was looking for.
Despite all that the rest of the round had been so good that he still managed, somehow, to get into 5th place out of about 38 dogs so not a complete disaster.

One Swallow Doesn't Make a Summer...but maybe a handful of Swifts do!

On a grey muggy day like today (and the past week) it's hard to think about summer. As I trudged around the playing field with Brac (I'm only walking him on grass until his foot toughens up a bit more) my thoughts were more about considering how many more circuits I should do before returning for lunch. That was until a familiar but distant sound penetrated my skull. It was the screaming of what sounded like a swift. I looked up and scanned the sky from where the sound came and sure enough two swifts were flying in lazy loops and calling out to each other. They were hard to amke out against the thunderous clouds but as I scanned further I saw more high up, tossing and turning as if celebrating the end of their arduous journey. There were about half a dozen in all, not many but a sure sign that Summer is only around the corner.

Dog Tired

Dog Tired
Originally uploaded by Kangaroo Shoes.

I've just seen this image on Flickr and thought it too good not to blog. I reckon they are on a metre!

Flickr

For any of you interested in digital photography Flickr is a really good site to check out. I discovered it thanks to An Aussie, a Frenchman and a Burmese blog and an from a video lecture posted on Digital Photography School blog. So I took a look, explored the site a bit, read the T's & C's and decided to give it a try. You can use the site for free but there are some constraints but nothing too serious if you are just a casual photographer. To get full, unlimited use of the site there is an annual fee but it's only about £12.50 currently so it's not going to sting that much.
I think it's the kind of site that will appeal to bloggers as you quickly get to know and chat with other photographers with similar interests particularly if you join some of the special interest groups.
I've signed up for a year's membership and have been steadily uploading images and getting feedback on my work. If you click on the thumbnails below you can see some of the stuff I've submitted so far. What I really need to do now is get out there with the camera but it's not stopped raining since I joined!

www.flickr.com

Back in the Ring

Brac and I took part in our first obedience competition of the year. Yes, I know, it's May already and we've only just started, but those of you who read my blog regularly will know why. Anyway, Brac had clearly missed competing because he was beside himself when we got there. We were drawn first on for one of the classes (we entered two) so we waited at the side of the ring while the judge and steward walked the course. As soon as Brac saw this he started whining because he wanted to be in the ring with them. when it was his turn he almost dragged me in there. So much for obedience. Despite this I thought he worked a good round although he was a little forward of me and he anticipated on one of the exercises, the recall. He did it beautifully but he didn't wait to be asked. Naturally he was marked down for this and his forward working but the judge said she loved his enthusiasm and wished more dogs were that keen.
For the second class he was a little more settled although I didn't think he worked as well in the heelwork. Even so we came joint 2nd with two other handlers so had a run-off for 2nd 3rd & 4th place. In the end we came 3rd out of about 40 dogs in the class so not a bad result and at least we got to go home with a rosette.
He is now crashed out in the hall probably dreaming about all the friends he met.

Prognosis

Things could have been worse. I went in with my friend at the doctors. She was told that her condition was as bad as it could get without being terminal. She has the chance of making a full recovery but only if she helps herself. Sometimes I think she is trying to self destruct and the hard part will be keeping her focused and positive. Going to the doctors and having the tests done was the first time she has ever taken any of the advice she has asked me for. I hope this is a turning point. She knew she was ill but was always too scared to find out just how ill. I hope now she will stop burying her head in the sand and concentrate on getting better but it will be a struggle.

Bad day

Today is not going to be a good day. Today I have to take a long term friend of mine to the doctors to get the results of a test. She is very scared and she knows the results are going to be bad. How bad we don't know but even the best case scenario is a long, rocky road. I spent much of the last 24 hours worrying about it but that makes me feel bad because what ever I feel will not compare to what she is going through.
I know you will all be keeping your fingers crossed for her today and maybe even thinking of her in your prayers.

Sally Jane's Pet Portraits goes Global

This is my first pet portrait commission from Australia. She is an Australian cattle dog from New South Wales. Her owner confirmed today that the portrait arrived in the post in perfect condition so I'm quite relieved. I always worry about the post as it's the one part of the operation that I have no control over other than to keep piling on the bubble wrap!
Her owner is thrilled with her portrait I'm pleased to say and is thinking of getting one done of her husbands dog. I'm thrilled too because this was my first overseas commission. Hopefully one of many more to come.

Happy Bunnies

On Saturday we flew up to our gliding club at Bidford-Upon-Avon for the bank holiday weekend. Yes, that's right, we flew! Paul has finally got his beloved aeroplane a TB21 back from intensive care with the maintenance engineers at Biggin Hill and it seems (tough wood) to be working properly. This last bit was whispered as I'm sure it's all just an illusion really and it's actually just a defective as ever. It's been about 18 months since it started having problems and the last 6 months it has been on the verge of having the plug pulled on it. Paul was getting more and more despondent as although the engineers could see problem they couldn't find the cause. When we were told it was fixed and we could fly it this weekend we only half believed it as we had been at that point so many time before only for the fault to reappear. This time it looks like they might have actually succeeded as the engine and turbo behaved beautifully on the short flight to and from the gliding club. I now have a happy husband.

I also have a happy dog as finally Brac's paw seems to have calloused over properly. It will be a while before the thick layer of the pad grows back over the new skin so it is still fragile but he is at least now able to go out without having a boot on. Gentle walking on grass only for a while I think until it toughens up a bit but it looks good for his show on Saturday. Assuming he doesn't find another flint to step on! This photo is him asleep on the back seat of the aircraft flying home. He is wearing ear defenders are to protect his hearing.

We didn't exactly do any gliding while we were at Bidford but we did get our glider it out of it's box before realising that those who were already launched were struggling with the failing conditions and having to land. So we gave it a clean and put it away again. Sunday was overcast all day so no thermals to make it worth launching and today was a wash out this morning. After lunch we packed up to fly back home only for the weather to break and give the most stonkinggliding conditions for ages. By now most people had also packed up and gone so there was no one to take advantage of it. As we were getting thrown around by the thermals in our powered aircraft on our return home we didn't see one glider anywhere and the visibility was fantastic. No doubt there were a lot of glider pilots sitting in their cars on their way home cursing that the good weather arrived too late. Still it was a British bank holiday so what else could we expect?

(This is Brac looking cool at the laucn point.)

Love to Lead Question 17 (Just for fun)

Ok so no prises for this question it's just for the fun of it, but why not?

Question - Is Global Warming a Media Myth?

My answer - Prophecy or Scare Mongering?

It’s always difficult these days trying to pick the fact from the fiction from the news. Sad to say even the BBC news waters down it’s facts so much it is hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. I’m sure if you asked them or any of the news papers they would tell you it is what their customers (we) want; that facts alone are boring. That may be true, certainly a hyped up story sells better than a cold report of facts alone but when it comes to really important stuff how do we actually know what to believe?

I get really annoyed when the press take it upon themselves to make up facts. A example of this was reported on the BBC1 lunchtime news only a couple of weeks ago. They showed us images of Hawthorn in flower. It was the middle of April and they were claiming this was a sign of global warming because the ‘nick name’ for this plant is the May Tree. This plant would probably been given this nick name over a thousand years ago when the temperatures in this country were certainly cooler than today. As kids my sister and I used to comment on what a silly name this plant had seeing as it nearly always seemed to flower in April! I’m sorry to say this was so long ago that no one had heard of global warming. OK so we do live in the South East where the climate is warmer but this was a really poor example and one that made me wonder how many other examples put up by the media were also rubbish.

The facts that I think we can take for granted are that our annual temperatures do appear to be getting warmer. Winter snow when I was a kid was something we could look forward to, now it is just a brief possibility. The south East of England has always been the driest part of the UK and yes we do seem to be having more ‘droughts’ but I think this is more due to the increase in demand for water here than the lack of rainfall.

One a global count I cannot say so I have to rely on what ‘experts’ tell me. It has been shown that as the Earth wobbles on its axis changes in global temperatures do occur causing ice ages and droughts every few thousand years and may be that is all this is. I think there might be something in that but I don’t think that is the entire story. As a species we do cause an increasingly large amount of pollution and I can’t see how we could expect to get away with that and think the world will just cope.

Unfortunately global warming is such an important subject we can’t afford to take chances. Get it wrong and ignore the warning signs and the damage we create for the future could be catastrophic with no way of putting it right. Act now to combat it and we could help prevent that. If it turns out later that the climate changed for natural reasons well, hey, nothing lost but in the mean time we learned to be less polluting.

Media hype in my opinion is undermining the campaign for us to clean up our act. There is a good work of fiction on this subject by Michael Crichton called ‘State of Fear’. Even though it is in itself total fiction it successfully highlights the need for us to separate fact from fiction in the media.