Springtime in the Sunny North East

Not sure why the photos are small but you get the point!

A Futile Exercise?

The dog has smelly breath. That's no secret. You can probably smell it from where you are sitting. But I've just got to say, that seeing as she has hardly any teeth left, I think that this.....is just too little, too late.

Hammer!

These boys could not be any sweeter! (Yes, I do know that the title has seemingly no relevance to the actual post...... makes sense to me though.)

Thanks for the photos, Beth.

I Know You Are Trying To Help But...

I found this gem on our local council website....

'If English is not your first language and you would like more information about this document, or if you require information in large print, Braille or on tape please contact......'

No one else see the issue here?

Not The Wooden Spoon

Finally! Something good has happened in my little sporting world. We've all pretty much given up on poor old Darlo (they lost again today) so, no, it wasn't to do with them.

The Six Nations is over. For Scotland anyway..... England play France shortly and then it will be totally over. We pretty much triumphed this afternoon in that we don't leave the 2010 Six Nations with the wooden spoon. Three cheers!! I would have felt nauseous if we had finished last in the table because I think it would have by no means been deserved. Scotland have often languished near the foot of the Six Nations table for the past few years. It was eleven years ago that we last won the competition. It was still the Five Nations then. Believe me, most years we have deserved to be propping up the table.

This year we didn't. We've been fairly 'unlucky' I suppose. We could (and should!) have won against Wales. That knocked our confidence against Italy and maybe we could have won against England although I missed that game actually. Either way, those games were well within our reach. Against France we had no hope really (They are going for the Grand Slam this evening deservedly) and I would have said the same for our game against Ireland.

You could tell that Ireland were desperate to win this game. It was their last game at Croke Park before moving back to the newly renovated Lansdowne Road (Aviva) so they wanted to leave there on a winning note. They came out of the gate all guns blazing but were playing too fast even for themselves! I got tired just watching the first half of the game. It was exhausting! I can't even imagine what the players were feeling like...... although I am thinking 'jelly legs' at the moment.

Scotland just stuck together and played good, connected rugby. It was a great game to watch.... probably better for the neutral. It was a little too tense for me. Especially when Dan Parks had a penalty to kick in the last minute of the game to take the lead! Of course he made it. Of course! I didn't doubt it!! :-) Dan Parks has really been the stand out player for me in the this Six Nations. I think three Man Of The Match awards say it all really. He really has just pulled it out of the bag. I do think he is wonderful.

So, we ended up beating Ireland 20-23. Marvellous! This meant that we climbed above Italy who had beaten us. Sorry Italy...... better luck next time. Enjoy that wooden spoon.

A couple of things I loved today. One was how jolly they made Flower of Scotland. I'm seriously struggling to think of a time that I have heard it better. The arrangement of it was so upbeat and cheerful..... you know considering that it is about defeating the English in the Battle of Bannockburn in 1341 which I'm confident was a fairly gruesome affair. The second was the dry remarks of one of the commentators. I've looked to see if I could find out who the commentators were but no such luck. Some of those comments I will never forget. They have been locked in my memory forever. So, so funny!

I'm so glad that Scotland finally got something for their Six Nations endeavours.... but I am definitely glad that we did not come away with that dreaded wooden spoon!

Who Needs Boys Anyway

Saturday was a day with three of my most favourite girls in the world. Throw in a little Meg and Tina time and only then could it have been better.
We went to Brimham Rocks for a picnic and a mess around. We ate lots of snacks, drank Fruit Slurps....

and decorated Gingerbread people.After we ate, the climbing began.I am a big fan of rocks......Beth not so much.....Brimham Rocks makes you feel tall and incredibly small at the same time.Three wise monkeysI love these girls!Sarah and I listened to the rugby on the way home. Thankfully it was a draw cos I'm not sure that we both would have made it home in one piece if the outcome was any different.

On a side note, I'm currently reading Sacred Singleness by Leslie Ludy. It is GOOD! I'm also trying to read the Bible in 90 days which is really hard but immensely wonderful at the same time!

A Day For Mothers

Today is Mothers' Day.

I love my Mum and I know she will love me for using this photo of her dressed a la John Knox in Edinburgh last Summer.I love my Dad too but as today is Mothers' Day, it is all about Mum.I ♥ you, Mum!!

xxx

The Heart And The Splodge

Beth and I went to Costa yesterday. Naturally! I ordered my usual and Beth got a Latte of some variety (can't remember which!).


This was my drink and this was Beth's:


I'd be flattered if I didn't know that they put that on everyone's hot chocolate (probably even mochas too coming to think of it!).

Phemie had me in fits this morning. She was licking my empty yogurt carton and had a huge glop of yogurt on her nose. It was in her whiskers and everything. I tried really hard to get a picture of that but she was too lively. I had to clean her with a tissue in the end..... which she promptly stuffed in her pouch.

Love And Laundry

Song of the week:

Love and Laudry by Point of Grace.

I saw Point of Grace at the Grand Ole Opry when I was in Nashville back in April '09. I actually didn't think so much of them. Don't get me wrong, they were good but not amazing. It might have been because they were on near the end of the program and I had gotten pretty tired. I went ahead and downloaded their new album anyway. It is called No Changin' Us and it is just brilliant. My favourite song BY FAR is Love and Laundry. It is just so fun and truthful and, of course, most importantly it is so Country. Man, I LOVE that Country music!

A Lot Less Hope And A Bunch Of Bananas

It has been a long time since I have been to the Darlington Arena. It's been a REALLY long time now that I come to think of it. For whatever reason (from the fact that there was hardly any football played at the Arena in the back end of the year, or I was too busy) I just haven't managed to catch a game. I can't actually remember the last match that I went to. Not that it matters, I can pretty much tell you the result.
I know. It is a big change of tune from posts of the past. Don't get me wrong, I still live in hope. It's just that the hope seems much more difficult to grab hold of now. I suppose the object of that hope has shifted slightly. It is now much less 'I really hope that Darlo can do the impossible and survive the drop' and has become 'well, here's hoping that we only have to sit out one season in the Conference before returning to League football'.

So seeing as I had a day off and nothing else planned, Dad and I headed to that bog white elephant on the outskirts of town. Torquay were the opposition and football was the game (supposedly). We started with a minutes silence in respect for Keith Alexander (the manager of Macclesfield) who died earlier in the week. Does it sound bad if I say that a minutes silence is my favourite part of any sporting event? I mean, obviously I don't love the reason why we have them but I love how the background chatter of a large crowd (1819 in this case) hushes (hopefully) and stands there altogether for a minute just amazes me. I love, love, love the atmosphere.... and then the roar when the ref blows the whistle to signal the end of the minute just seems so awesome. Having said that, it was somewhat muted today cos there weren't that many of us.

I really don't know what to say about the match in all honesty. It could hardly be called a football match. I will say that Darlo did play the better 'football'. Slightly. All the goals were really soft, except Torquay's third. Did I mention the result was 3-1 to Torquay? Hands up all those who are surprised.

Something grated on me today, apart from the fact that we lost again of course, and that Torquay's goalkeeper was literally twice the size of any other human being that ever existed, oh! and that the Torquay team looked and played like bananas, was the choice of Man of the Match. Curtis Main was the player on whom the award was bestowed. I've got to ask, WHY?! Fine he scored the goal (which was not a good one btw and he didn't do any of the work to 'create' it) but that was about it! The boy can't turn on the ball either so ended up passing the ball in really odd directions. I just don't understand how he was awarded it. Seems to me that not much thought went into the decision. Irritating.

It really isn't looking good for poor ol' Darlo. I'm pretty sure that there is no chance of survival now but I guess there is always hope while it is still mathematically possible.

*Sigh*

Costa Skinny Hot Chocolate - My Drug Of Choice

If you have spent any time with me in the recent past, you'll know this about me. I pretty much live on these:

Well, what is inside them really, although I have nothing against the Costa takeaway cups.

Costa Skinny Hot Chocolate.

Wow. I really just cannot get enough of them. I had to satisfy the craving again today and after buying new jeans and boots (yipee!) so I nipped in to Costa to get one.

It was a little embarrassing. The conversation with the server went along these lines:

Server: 'Hi there. What can I get for you?'

Me: 'Small skinny hot chocolate to take away, please.'

Server: 'Do you come here often enough to get a Costa Coffee Club Card?' (I love the alliteration!)

Me: 'Do I have to pay for it?'

Server: 'No.'

Me: 'Then, yes.'

Server: 'Yeah, I thought I recognised your face!'

Ha! I'll be able to start ordering 'the usual' soon.

I'm thinking this card will come in very handy around Keswick time.......

I can't believe I was ever a Starbucks girl.

A Flying Visit

We had a lovely visit from my cousin, Margaret, this weekend. There isn't really a lot to say about the weekend. We went to Costa and Ochis, watched some Outnumbered, went to church and played with the hamster. It was nice to just catch up!All weekend we were told that there was a 'similarity' about us.What do you think?