Counting blessings and bills!

Hello again!

Before I go into this weeks witterings, I would like to thank Deb at A Fine Feathered Nest for giving me a beautiful, gorgeous award, which I have put on my sidebar and will treasure dearly. Thank you so much Deb! You are lovely and kind!

Also I would like to thank all of you who have taken the time to come on here and read my ramblings again and again, and then leave me comments. You are all stars! Thank you so much!

The other day, despite George being off for work for two weeks, after longing for his time off for quite some time, things started to go wrong at work, the phone started ringing, ringing and then ringing again! Very quickly he was realising that he may have to sacrifice some of his holiday due to responsiblities to his job. Soon the phone was ringing again, but this time it was the garage, reeling out a long list of jobs that needed to be done on our car! I won't say how much the bill was, but it was enough to make a happy duck's bill drop to the floor! One of our dogs, not mentioning any names... ARCHIE...was having one of his drama queen days, (lying on the settee with his paw over his head!) and our nerves were being stretched with his ham actor histrionics!

Archie our nutty Jack Russell Terrier. Also known as Archibald Peabody Smythe!

We have only recently moved into our home, and it needs quite a few jobs doing on it, and what with Christmas, and a wedding coming up, well......!
I am sure you all know what I am talking about there! Sometimes, there are worries sat upon more worries and they pile up into a nice little worry hillock, leaving you feeling a tad stressed. But, despite the huge unexpected bill, I decided that I would just smile. You know that there is a tiny moment in any situation where just for that second you have a choice. You have the choice of how you are going to react to that particular situation. So, I decided not to let it spoil the day.It will work it's self out somehow, I thought to myself. They mostly do in the end! Don't let it spoil George' time off work, (if he gets it!) I always try to view life in this way, although I am not always too good at it, but I do try and mostly I can see the bright side! I decided that rather than dwelling on what was wrong with the day, that I would count some of my blessings instead. There are always many more things to be happy of than sad! :)

A welcoming door and a roof over our heads.

My veggie patch where I can pretend to be cultivated! (Ha!)

Lovely food on the table each evening. Delicious monk fish A la George! Accompanied by a cold splarkling glass of Cava. It was so yummy!!! We don't, I must hasten to add have this kind of a meal everyday. Well not the cava anyway! No, we usually have gruel. Only joking!!!

Candlelight and music, and faith! Yes the blessing of faith :)

Autumn leaves, nature's beauty is free!

Pretty countryside and wild horses running free. The blessing of having a free spirit!

A water colour I painted.

Wandering along meandering English country lanes, breathing in the fresh air...Is free!


We are lucky to have these lovely lanes a stones throw away from our home!

Our feathered friends, clucking happily in my friend's garden. Lucky me, I get free eggs!

Chick, chick, chick, chicken, lay a little egg for tea!

Flowers, a reminder to us of how miraculous our world is. Hollyhocks and a poppy I grew from tiny seeds!

I love poppies! Daft I know, but my car is called poppy!

The sound of children playing happily! Smiles and laughter are free!

Another water colour painting of mine.

Friends, thank goodness for true friends, My Mum always said it is better to have one good loyal friend, than to have many fly by night ones. As usual, she was absolutely right! I made this cushion for one such a friend, my soul sister, who I have known for years now! with each stitch I thought about her and all our memories together. I am blessed to have such a good friend. These kind of friends are as rare as hens teeth, and hee hee, and talking of hens, Susan is the one who lets me have free eggs! Still wondering if I should get some chickens. I have an empty coop! I am also blessed with many other very good friends also, some who have known me for years and yet they still stick around!!! Lately, I have found a long lost friend, Ro Jordan. She found me through using facebook! I am so glad she did! I have been blessed by the fact that the friends I do have are true and caring.

I love the freedom and effects of stitchery! This one has stitchery, applique and homespun fabric

And of course, there is always the blessing of Hope! Which is more than I can say for this poor blighter! There is something really sad about this abandoned boat which lays on the banks of Skippool Creek near to where I live. Everytime I walk past, I wonder who owns her, and what she was like in the flush of youth when she was freshly painted and proudly bobbing about on the waves. When she was Yar, as Katharine Hepburn said in The Philadelphia Story, with Cary Grant (YUM!).

If you look closely, or click on the photo, you will see she is called 'Good Hope' !

It is my husband's birthday this weekend, and we were going to go out for a meal, but due to the rather large repair bill, we will most likely be having a lovely meal at home instead. Oh, but, I love making a special meal at home, it is so cosy..... the table set with lovely glasses, napkins, an embroidered table cloth, the soft warm glow of candlelight, lovely music and a log fire too! What more could anyone want, it is perfect. Oh Maybe just one more thing.... a nice glass of fizzing bubbly cava!

BOTTOMS UP GIRLS!!!!

So this weekend, I will lift a toast to you all during our birthday celebrations and wish you all many blessings! Bottoms up girls!

Suzie. XXX :)