6 o'clock in the morning - just the two of us

So, it was just Hagrid and I out this morning.  Being a lovely and generous wife, I am currently sharing the cold that has been mithering me for the past week with the lovely Fluffrick. Aren't I generous?

We have had a bit of a week with the lovely Hagrid.  We were taking him out for his evening constitutional last Thursday, when a "Staffy-Cross" came barrelling down the road, off the lead and launched an unprovoked attack on Hagrid.  Hagrid may be quite big, but he is also a great big wuss, so by the time the dog's owner managed to pull him off Hagrid, the poor boy had four nasty bites.

Needless to say Hagrid has been feeling very sorry for himself and can't understand why we won't let him lick his metaphorical and literal wounds.  The bites are healing quite well, although we have had to resort to the "cone of shame" to prevent the licking.  But Hagrid is on the mend and hopefully the whole incident will not have traumatised him too much, he was a very nervous dog to begin with.

A Lie In - 6:45 in the morning

Hagrid was kind enough, as it was Saturday morning, to allow us a lie in.  So it was at 6:45 that we headed up to Graves Park, to be honest we wouldn't go much later, as it is a very popular puppy park.

We were not the only ones enjoying the early morning

Graves Park was hosting a Fair

My attempt at an arty photo - into the early morning sun

The reason we don't mind getting up early, even on a Saturday

Six O'clock in the Morning

Just a few more picture from our early morning sojourn with Handsome Hagrid.

Handsome Hagrid and his Dad

A new sculptural addition to Meersbrook Park

It might not look it, but this is really quite a steep hill

Six o'clock in the morning

In recent months I have discovered how often it is lovely at six o'clock in the morning and by 9 o'clock it can be grey and miserable.  

Mr Fluffrick and the lovely Hagrid on our early morning walk.  There were lots of wonderful smells this morning and we got Meersbrook Park all to ourselves.

What to Eat this Week

I've missed a couple of weeks as we've been on holiday.  We didn't go very far, just twenty miles away in the Derbyshire Dales and but wasn't a resounding success,  We (Me, Fluffrick, both Mums and two dogs) were staying in a very pleasant cottage that was supposedly dog friendly, personally I would only regard it as dog tolerant. I completely understand the rule of no pets on the furniture, but this is the first time I have encountered a rule about no pets in the bedrooms and that didn't end well for us.  In brief a spooked Hagrid vaulted the stair gate at the bottom of the stairs, ran up to our bedroom and in his attempt to clamber under our bed knocked the radiator off the wall.  We ended up cutting our holiday short and coming home the next day.  We did all get a break, but not quite the one we intended.


But now we are back and so is "what to eat this week".  So in the veg box this week we got, the lovely tomatoes above, courgettes, an aubergine, red onions, a pointed cabbage, flat green beans and sweet potatoes.  We were meant to receive spinach rather than sweet potato, so I had to jig the menu a little and drop the Spouffle.


FRIDAY
Pizza - well that is if I get off my backside and start proving some dough


SATURDAY
Sweet potato and Peanut gratin with salad - another lovely recipe from Hugh which I tried last week and everyone said they liked. 


SUNDAY
Roast Chicken with potatoes, stuffing and vegetables.


MONDAY
Chicken with rice - using the leftover chicken, this is an Allegra McEvady from Economy Gastronomy.


TUESDAY
Spaghetti with a salmon, mushroom and cream sauce - especially asked for by Mum, previously blogged about here


WEDNESDAY
Vegeree - another recipe from River Cottage Veg Everyday.


THURSDAY
Veggie Sausage and Chips.


I'm watching the European Athletics Championships at the moment from Helsinki which puts me in mind to look at my Nordic Bakery book and rustle up some yummy Scandinavian treats. 

Someone Loves His Duckie

We had a meeting with a dog trainer last week, we're referring to it as Hagrid's Gentleman Training.  He definitely is not the most social of dogs, but we hope that with some training we can make him a happier boy.  One suggestion the trainer gave us to improve our bond with the Big Lad was to play with him more.  The trainer had several different toys to play with and the one Hagrid loved the most was a pink squishy octopus; sadly we have not been able to locate the same toy, but Duckie has been a more than adequate alternative.


A few times today we have a mad five minutes playing with Duckie and jumping around the living room.  I have made Hagrid another tuggy toy, but nothing matched up to his Duckie.  We are also hoping to reduce Hagrid's pulling on walks and so for the first time today we walked him with a Halti and for the first time we actually took him for a walk rather than him taking us.


He really is a lovely lad, but as we know next to nothing about his history before he came to live with us, we will probably never know why he reacts so much to other dogs. But it just makes us love him and want to help him all the more.

Me Made May'12 Days 9,10,11,12,13,14 and 15

This post should actually be called, "Why can't the weather make up it's mind!".  I have discovered that there are far more handmade summer clothes in my wardrobe, but the weather has most definitely not been summery. So what to wear?

Day 9

This is a favourite skirt of mine, it's made with the same pattern as my denim skirt, which is from an old issue of BurdaStyle.  It's a very soft dark green moleskin and what you can't see because of Hagrid's lovely head are my white, green and red argyle socks, they have brought a smile to many a face.  Why do people find socks funny?

Day 10


This is my new favourite dress, I blogged about it here.  It is just so comfortable and I get to wear turquoise tights with it. 

Day 11

A whole outfit made by me.  The denim skirt again, which I have taken in so it doesn't sit quite so low on my hips.  The blouse is an old one, probably from the early 90's, it's from a "style" pattern and they went out of business a long time ago.  Of course when I put it on I remembered why I don't wear it very often, the buttonholes are large and come undone, of course I could fix this in about ten minutes, I just haven't got round to it.

Day 12

Here is a lesson in why I should take better care of my paper patterns.  I made these trousers a couple of years ago and they are really comfortable.  But I didn't put the pattern pieces back in the packet and now I don't quite know where they are.  That may not sound like a big problem, but I have 30 years accumulated fabric and patterns to look through.

Day 13

This is a blouse I refashioned from a charity shop skirt, the detail of the inset lace doesn't show up in the picture unfortunately.  The picture had to be taken as soon as I put it on, as it is made of linen and creases if you look at it.

Day 14

I wear this little top a lot.  I am a sucker for remnants, if I can get something at a reduced price I'm happy.  This top was made from less than a metre of fabric. I think it turned out quite well, even if none of the pictures with me looking to camera didn't.

Day 15

The t-shirt again from day 5, with the addition of a jaunty scarf and a Hagrid who is far more interested in the neighbourhood cats than having his picture taken.

Me Made May'12 Day 5, 6, 7 and 8

I already have quite a number of clothes that I have made myself, some of them dating back over a decade (well I have been sewing for nearly 30 years). But participating in Me Made May gives me a really good excuse to make some more.

Day 5

I made this t-shirt yesterday, I'm not sure how much I like it yet, I think I would prefer it to be a little more fitting.  I also made the jeans, I usually live in jeans and I don't think I could go a month without jeans.  However, I think I must have recycled a zip when I was making them and it refuses to say up, so I think I'm going to have to replace it before i wear them again.

Day 6


This is a dress I made many years ago and I can't remember the last time I wore it.  I am not one of those people who gets rid of something if it's not been worn in the last year, especially if it is something I have made myself.

Day 7


Two more things that I made many years ago, in fact I think they both must be over ten years old (in fact I had forgotten I even had the trousers).  But at least that means that I'm not any bigger than I was ten years ago.

Day 8


I think this skirt will be a frequent participant this month.  It is very comfortable and goes with my Aubergine El Natralista shoes.  The top I made last week, with material that had been hanging around for a while, it's just a simple grey cotton, so I jazzed it up with some buttons. 

This is the button detail.

Doesn't Hagrid look handsome in these photos?

Goodbye...Hello

I didn't realise it had been so long since I had posted, nearly two months.  Part of the reason for not posting was Minnie Mo's health.  The little girl had been getting gradually worse since the start of the year, she had been diagnosed with renal failure last June, then started to have spinal problems at Christmas. So very very sadly we had to make the decision when she also developed liver failure, that she had been through enough.

I miss her more than I can say, she was a little bright spark who kept us on our toes.  She was a rescue dog from the lovely people at Rotherham Dog Rescue, she had been a stray and was painfully thin when we first adopted her.  We don't know exactly how old she really was, or what her name was, because it certainly wasn't Minnie, as she never really responded to it.  I liked to call her Contrary Mary, as you could be sure she would do the opposite of what you wanted her to do, but then as mere humans we should have realised that she was in charge.

Lovely Minnie Mo on holiday in Arran

 So as Minnie left us we realised that we needed a new dog to keep us in hand and sadly there are always dogs that need rescuing.  We went looking for another little terrier to fill the Minnie sized hole in our lives, but we ended up with a whole lot more.  Let me introduce you to Hagrid.

Handsome Hagrid

This lovely lad is a Standard Poodle/Saluki cross and he is big, he can easily put his paws on your shoulders and lick you face, something we are trying to discourage him from doing.  He is a big soft boy, but a little nervous.   He does have some issues with other dogs, but then so did Minnie at first and she overcame it in time and as he is only two years old, he has plenty of time to learn.  We met Hagrid at Mill House Animal Sanctuary and it was love at first sight.  I'm sure he will make frequent appearances in this blog.