Useful

Have you ever bought yourself something useless?
Something sweet, something likeable something non utilitarian?
I think all of us very occasionally like to scratch that frivolous itch occasionally and although you may need some new underpants, need to pay your William's skin allergy medication bill and need to put money towards your nursing reregistration payment, the pleasure of buying an oversized garden outdoor chess set seemed the best course of action for the day

What " useless " thing have you treated yourself to recently?

A Rat In The Woodpile

Albert brought home a youngish rat this morning.
It managed to escape, into the woodpile, squeaking very very loudly as it did so.
Squeaking rodents are like illegal drugs to canines
That was well over two hours ago

Subsequently I've not needed to walk the dogs today.
The hot spell continues, so I've washed windows, cut the lawn, cooked a ham, made ice cream, dug out the valerian from the wall and cut back the honeysuckle.  I've weeded the front garden and cut roses, changed and washed bedding to dry in the afternoon warmth and oh and bleached the bog

And all four dogs were still at the woodpile digging for the rat when I had finished

Birth

No Comment Required

Several of you out there have picked up on a certain melancholy creeping into Going Gently recently. Perhaps it's been around for a few months now, as my husband and I have found ourselves at a crisis point which is in need of a resolution.
I'm not saying any more. It's a private matter and just for today I don't want any comments on this blog entry about it.
Perhaps I just wanted you to know it's a bit tough at the moment
Hey ho.

Cat Fud

I've just flung Albert licked cat food at a Lycra covered biker.
It's been the most exciting thing that's happened all day.
I'd made a chicken risotto and and was cleaning up when Albert walked up to me and swiped my legs wanting food.
Albert is always fed from a small enamel tin bowl on the kitchen window still ( the only place dog free) and when baby rabbits are growing up, he will demand his meat dinner several times a day.
He's a fussy cat and loves to lick every bit of gravy off his dinner leaving dry chucks of meat in the bowl. In hot weather the bowl can get quite high and so I've got into the habit of throwing the licked contents over the kitchen wall , and the lane beyond into the raised lawn of the old churchyard where two crows have got in the habit of waiting for their dinner.
Today I flung the cat food out over the flight path of a silent biker coming up the lane.
I apologised profusely without explaining exactly what I was doing ..

Open Wide

There's a joke here! But.....

My sister and I joined the popcorn brigade this evening and went to see Jurassic World - Fallen Kingdom.
It was sweet if her as she doesn't really does Dino movies.
Ok, it was rubbish.....but entertaining rubbish, improved by the delectable Chris Pratt - who has a smile that could crack walnuts- with the body to match!
The movie was obviously a homage to the original and its first sequel as several scenes were literally recreated Moment to Moment and despite the narrative being allowed to gallop on without the time to  take advantage of tension and suspense , it's an entertaining old romp.
The big B lister cast Toby Jones , Raif Spall, Geraldine Chaplain ( WTF?) and James Cromwell do very little to make things better, but newcomers Daniella Pineda ( as a spunky tattooed vet) and English muppet Isabella Sermon as the obligatory small child in peril , do shine with the likeable leads ( The delicious Pratt  and  Bryce Dallas Howard )

We have seen this all before......and unfortunately dinosaurs running amok are yesterday's newspaper, but Just once I did catch myself holding my breath as the volcano explodes and the herds of dinosaurs race for safety on the edge of a cliff.....
7/10

My sister and I laughed at my previous effort at recreating the famous Chris Pratt pose to fend off three dinos

This is him

Pratt with dinos

Mr Gray with turkey , hen and Scottie 

With a much fatter arse! 

Under The Honeysuckle

I'm sat under the honeysuckle which shades the front door of the cottage.
I'm listening.
The buzz of bees on the flowers above my head dominate , but the bark of a dog over in the rectory, the thump of a faraway football and the faint tinkle of children playing far past the main road can be just made out over the chirp of the hedgesparrows.

Mixed Bag

An octogenarian , a young mum with a disabled daughter, a Welsh teacher, a retired nurse, a social worker, a lesbian with MS and her wife , a student, a yummy mummy, a bike riding grandad, a former nursing home manager, a housewife,
All volunteers
All at a sausage sizzle with quality sausages
Nice people all with the Samaritans cause in common
We had a nice evening