Tapestry

I've blogged a bit about my new tapestry project and also put up some pictures of where I'd got up to with it. I have to admit that since I took those pics I've done another couple of the larger flowers at the bottom, but that's all. So, coming up to Scotland this week, it seemed an ideal opportunity to break out the wool & tapestry needle again and see how far I can get.

So I started on Sunday and I've done LOADS so far - all the large blue and pink flowers and all the little pink daisy like flowers! I've also done the yellowy highlight bits on the leaves and in the top of the artichoke.

I'm just about to launch in to the blue leaves and I think that's going to be a bit of a mission as the blues are a bit similar and it's difficult to work out which one goes where!

Flowered up - Weekender

Classic video from years ago. I am sure not many people will remember it

Part ONE

Part TWO

I want an MRI scan

I know i am weird, But i have always been interested in how my head would look (on the inside).
I found this website and thought it was very cool .

I hate BA

I have always disliked BA since they went gunning for VIRGIN.
But this just pisses me off .

So i have never flown BA since and THIS certainly wont make me change my mind

Is this the saddest dog in the world ?

Mango mango!

Dan came home from ASDA the other day with 4 mangos. They were only £1 each! I've not ever cooked with them although I am partial to a glass mango & orange juice in the mornings.

So, I've been looking up mango recipes online and have decided to make a couple of different things. Well, 3 actually.

Part 1 - Mangos 1 & 2 have been used to make mango lassi, our favourite drink when going out to the Aagrah in Garforth.

I'd never cut a mango before today and so had to look it up - I don't like attempting anything without knowing the 'proper way' to do it - but when I did, it was so pretty, I had to take a pic...looks a bit like an orange hedgehog!

The lassi is basically blended mango, yoghurt, milk and sugar. It's a luxury smoothie!

Part 2 - hasn't been completed yet but mango no 3 is going to be a mango salsa

Part 3 - mango chutney is in store for mango no 4 (do I dare?)

More pics of the 'making of mango lassi' are here on picasa.

Lost in Transit

"OK, well have a safe trip and text me when you arrive"
"Yes chicken, will do"

Mum and I signed off our conversation this morning. Her, Dad and Uncle Ste were in the RyanAir queue at Liverpool Airport waiting to check in for their flight to Pisa.

3 or 4 hours later, I was just about to have my lunchtime sarnie, and thought of the travellers. I logged on to t'interweb and found the Pisa airport site. I started looking at the arrivals but there looked to be something slightly wrong with the website. Out of the 19 flights due in this morning, only 5 had actually landed. All the others read 'CANCELLED'... including theirs!

That's odd, I thought. If their flight had been cancelled, I'm sure they'd have let us know by now. After all this was now after midday and the flight was due to have departed at 9:30.

I called Janey to see if they'd phoned or texted. "Why would they phone you?" she said. It was a good point, but I was sure they'd have phoned if something was wrong, so it must have been a problem with the airport's website. We both had a bit of trouble getting onto the "arrivals" page, which convinced us even further that the website was the problem, not the flight. Jane managed to get on to the RyanAir website which was still reporting 'on time' even though by this time, we were about 45 minutes after their scheduled landing time.

Atilla (who has already proved himself as travel agent extraordinaire) was on the case now. "Pisa Airport has been closed by violent thunderstorms" he said. I started getting flashbacks to being stranded in JFK when lightning storms closed the airport. "You're kidding?" I shouldn't have doubted his travel savvy. He directed me to a link on the RyanAir website which stated that the airport had been closed.

Eventually we managed to find a link to their flight which said it had been diverted to Bergamo!

Jane and I were in contact on GoogleChat when I phoned Dad on his mobile. "Ciao bella" he said. "Ciao Dad, are you in Bergamo?" "What? How do you know?" He was completely gobsmacked. "Jane and I have been following you on the web" "Ahhhh!" he said. (As though that's the answer to everything!)

While I was having the conversation about their whereabouts, Jane was looking up the trains from Milan to Forli. About 3 hours direct; a far shorter journey than the 3.5 to 4 hours it was going to have taken them on the bus, over the Appennines back to Pisa, plus another 3 hour train journey from Pisa to Forli!

Last I spoke to them was just after they were coming though Faenza, the last stop before Forli. About an hour later they texted to say they'd just set foot in the little house!

The travellers had arrived.

Ooooooh we've just met Archie!

Well we've just been round to see Marina, Matt and our newest little family member, Archie. He's soooooo small!

Marina's looking well and recovering from the labour. She's still in pain tho, poor thing. I think Matt is still shell shocked from the experience, but they're doing well and even managed to get some sleep last night!

This is my fave pic from the set we've just taken - Dan and Archie get acquainted; Dan age 40 years, Archie age 40 hours!

All the Details

Well we've known he's going to be called Archie for some time, but it is nice to see his picture!

Sounds like a bit of a traumatic labour for Marina (is there a non-traumatic type? I don't think so!) but her Mum, Michelle and hubby Matt were there to see her through.

Archie Connor: 7lbs born at 4:02 this morning - 12th September, on his due date! Marina likes to plan things properly!

So that's the 2nd li'l nephew born this year! This is the adorable Oscar, sporting a fetching little stripey number...no doubt looking forward to playing with his new cousin, Archie. Only 5 months apart so they'll be friends!

Uncle Dan Again !

Looks like my sister produced this little beauty about an hour ago. Dont have poundage details yet, but he loooks a right little cutey :)

Archie Connor

I want a pet !

And it has to be one of these

Where is Al?

Link to Alan's current location (ish!)

Oh it's been such a chilled weekend...

Dan's had his hair cut.

I had a coffee in Mark's caff.

We bought some BEAUTIFUL flowers in Morley.

We plundered the Farmers market in Leeds.

I blitzed the remaining leaves on the basil plant with olive oil for our own pesto.






We made 2 'ready to use' pasta sauces using some of the jars of sun dried tomatoes which are threatening to take over our fridge.

It has been so nice.

Yay!

Saturday Morning

Well now here's something I don't often do; sit in a cafe on a Saturday morning, avec laptop and cappuccino! I'm just waiting for Dan to come back from having his hair cut at the same hairdressers he's been going to ever since a lad!

The cafe is a nice cafe/restaurant in Morley owned by Dan's (aforementioned) mate not quite from school. We were here on Sunday night for their 'end of summer' party / BBQ thing which was great - apart from the rain. I'm going to have to discuss their getting broadband – even to pay (I'd not mind a coupla quid for an hour) because I've sought out a signal but unfortunately they're all encrypted!

I've got a few friends who have embarked on interesting endeavors of late and I think they deserve an honorable mention in the absence of us having done anything exciting. In many ways I've been a small part of their journeys as I've been interested in the technological aspects; the blog, twitter, facebook bits. how sad!!

Firstly it's the lovely Emma – friends since 5 – here's a pic of us on our 1st day at Upton (secondary school) all togged up in uniform looking slightly like we'd been bought clothes to 'grow into!'

She has set herself a challenge of exploring her creative side – she's always been arty farty (I don't mean that in a derogatory way) it's just the phrase us sciency types used to describe the ones at school doing the artsy subjects!

Here's her blog http://mimiandtilly.blogspot.com/ you can even go online to a chatroom (if you time it right) and she'll be there to chat about all things creative. If you meet her (EmmaLovesCats) tell her I sent you!! She's on Twitter too - http://twitter.com/Emmalovescats

The next person is our friend Alan from work. He's just begun (day 2 of 14) on journey of a different kind. He's cycling from Land's End to John O'Groats. Here's his website http://2009cycling.blogspot.com/ and he's on Twitter too as AlanCarrLeJog09 http://twitter.com/alancarrlejog09

It's an amazing acheivement as last year he was knocked off his bike and ended up spending over 6 months off work, recovering from many broken bones.

So, Alan and Emma - we wish you well on both of your journeys.

Helvellyn Triathlon (Update)

Well for starters i am not doing it . A of mine is and he is a bit of a nutter.

Short description of the event is as follows

1 mile swim in Ullswater - England's most beautiful lake
38 miles cycle - including the Kirkstone Pass
9 miles run up Helvellyn - 3118 feet (England's 3rd highest peak)

And the maps associated to it are as follows SWIM CYCLE RUN
The profile of the bike ride is here

So i am glad i will be chilling out at home while is he doing this.
Good luck on it steve and hope you do a good time on it

UPDATE : Well steve finished it .
The results were for him (50th overall), Which is mental out of approx 600 people.
I have captured the winner's time off the races s/sheet and steve's time . Below

How can we do this to animals?

I love chicken, But after watching this it makes me think. And i wonder how the hell we can eat stuff that is treated like that?
We bought a organic pig at the start of this year and its the best things we ever did. The meat was so tasty and it was worth the extra money.

Not for the squeemish