End of an Era.....

Sadly on Saturday, we lost our last beloved cat , Sapphire (a.k.a Woo).

She was 17 years old and had lived with us since we homed her from Bury Stray Cat Fund at just 6 months old. Sapphire was most definitely a pampered lap cat and our home and lives seem very empty without her today.

Take care little Woo, we miss you x x x x

Stupid architect

Whoever designed this spectator area at Stow Leisure Centre should be struck off. Between the spectator area and the main pool is a HUGE decorative wall meaning you cannot spectate your children in their lessons.



We came by bus today bringing with us 'Olivia' from Rainbows. Luckily I didn't have to pay for her too!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

It grew!

Remember the strange escaping bulb that was trying to escape from it's pot at the end of last year? Well........




It grew into a beautiful if slightly short hyacinth!
It smells gorgeous and reminds me of my first class at primary school all those years ago!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Remember ??

....the 50 plus toilet and kitchen roll tubes that Pickle was frantically collecting? Well her first masterpiece has been created!





Can you tell what it is yet? No?





It's a shaker. With tin foil. Tissue paper....and flowers!

Only another 49 to go.....and still collecting!

Merry Christmas....

Wishing everyone in Blog Land a very Happy Christmas.

We had a different Christmas to the one we hoped for as we have had a poorly Pickle for the last couple of days which meant Picklesgrandma and Picklesgrandad could not come to stay and had to do a very last minute shop for food on Christmas Eve.
But despite another 4am change of bedcovers on Pickle's bed we did have a very nice day. Especially Picklesdad who got to build a pyramid and me who got a new iPhone toy!





Happy Christmas from Picklessister too!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

This is normal.....

isn't it?

Surely every Mother, if they were to investigate the bottom of their 6 year old daughter's wardrobe would find a plastic box, containing over 50 empty toilet roll tubes?

This doesn't make Pickle 'unusual' in anyway does it?

HaPpY HaLLOwEeN!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Remember back in August when we had the mystery plant growning in the garden and we thought it may be a marrow or a courgette? Then we picked it because we thought it was a funny shaped marrow?
Well THIS is what it was, A PUMPKIN and it made it all the way to Halloween to become this beauty!

What is it with me and.....

...growing things?

Just a simple hyacinth bulb. Half cover in compost and leave in the dark, the instructions said.

5 days later......

This freaky thing is escaping from the pot in the garage.

You Only Get One Chance To Make a First Impression!

I lived in Bury itself for 28 years until we moved to a village a few miles away. I still regularly visit Bury as my parents still live there. As I do not drive we usually go by train or bus as many visitors to Bury do to.

Recently I have started to notice how shabby some of the areas are on the way into town from the train station, so to the MAJOR embarrassment of Pickle, Picklesister and Picklesgrandma I decided to photograph some of the highlights and am asking if there is anything that can be done to improve this first impression that visitors get when arriving in Bury St Edmunds.

This is the view from the platform at Bury Station where a little weed killer is called for.

On leaving the station itself you are sometimes met with a line of taxis and a bus stop but no sign posts to know which way the town centre is for those wishing to walk.

It seems the most popular route is across the road and up the muddy hill and through the 'Kids Play' car park as there is so defined pathway!




Past the remains of last nights kebab.

Past the remains of Rollerbury!

Past the Toyota Garage, where I'm sure there used to be a river of some sort, now just stinging nettles.




Past the Gas Holder - never get permission to build THAT there these days!





Almost there, just a very large pile of Domino's Pizza crates to pass.


With so much time and money being spent on regenerating the centre of Bury, is it time to look a little further out and make that first impression as good as the rest of Bury St Edmunds?

The answer was...........

The old eastbound carriageway of the A14, otherwise known as

The Haughley Bends,

It is now a footpath/cyclepath/ Bridleway. One half has been dug over for the horses, whilst the other is left tarmaced for pedestrians and cyclists.
The westbound carriage way is now the local two way road into Stowmarket from the surrounding villages.
It feels very strange to be walking where we have driven so many times and there are a couple of floral tributes in the trees to those who lost their lives on this once dangerous stretch of road.

Where are we????

Any ideas?

Goodbye Holly....

On Wednesday we had to make the very sad and difficult decision to have one of our beloved cats put down. Holly was Basil's sister and was nearly 15 years old.
She used to be a 'fat cat' but over the last few months her weight her reduced dramatically and for the last week we had been unable to tempt her to eat anything at all.
Our lives have been better for having her in them and she will be greatly missed by all the family.
Sleep well little cat.

From a 'friend' of mine!

Says it all really.

A visitor

Picklesdad thought it would be nice to attract some birds (feathered) into our garden, though why when we have 2 cats I am not sure!

Finally after several months of NOTHING, we have a feathery visitor....

Not quite the pretty, dainty little bird I was hoping for!

All she wants for Christmas.......

is her two front teeth! Hopefully they will be through before that!

Babies, babies, babies!

We had some wannabe stowaways on Saturday when we left the local swimming pool after Pickle and Picklesister's swimming lessons!

Apologies

Apologies for the absence from blogging. I was going to do a big catch up with where we have been over the Easter break but now our computers are poorly and I am limited as to what I can do on it.
So instead I will just show you where we went yesterday, which was the blue bell woods at Haughley Park.

They are absolutely stunning but you have to be quick if you want to see them, the gardens are only open Sunday 3rd May from 2pm until 5.30pm but they are definitely worth a look and the tea and cakes on sale in the barn were delicious!

A long day....

For Pickle's 6th birthday we spent the day in Cambridge, mainly in Build a Bear in the lovely Grand Arcade (how a shopping Centre SHOULD be built) but we did find time to admire these beautiful flowers. We were supposed to be going to the Cinema there but due to an ever crashing sat-nav we were unable to find it, so we came back to Bury and watched Monsters Vs Aliens there instead. Afterwards we had dinner at Frankie and Benny's then decided to go for a walk into town to see The Cattle Market in the dark!

It has been a few (many) years since I have walked through Bury at night, but we were surprised at the amount of rubbish on the streets. I appreciate that it was after a market day but the rubbish we saw was not created directly from the market itself, it was mainly take away drink and food containers. Another shock for the time of night were the 'gangs' of young lads either riding skateboards at full pelt through the Cattle Market, swearing at the tops of their barely broken voices or speeding around the Buttermarket in their clapped out old fiesta, shouting at everyone from their windows. This used to be 'expected' at 11pm when the pubs were closing but at 8.30pm?
We were aware that there were absolutely no Police anywhere to be seen in the town centre during our time there and I am curious to know if this is normal or if they were all called upon to prepare for the Queens visit the next day. If it was the latter it is sad to think regular people have to suffer just because of an hour or so's visit to the town by an old lady.
I bet the Queen only saw the shiny sparkling Angel Hill area of Bury and was spared the shambles the rest of the town had become in preparation for her visit.

Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaarty Time!

With just 3 days to go until Pickle bursts with excitement, or her 6th birthday (who knows which will come first?) Picklesdad and I braved the heat of Playworld with 7 of Pickle's friends for 2 hours of FUN!
They all had a brilliant time, even if some of them did get a little hot. One boy was heard to say
" I am so sweaty, I will be sweaty FOREVER!"

"She was a skater cat...."

I fear Pickle has been inspired by Stuffonmycat.com. This is Sapphire our oldest lady cat, after Pickle has given her a make over.

Needless to say Sapphire was not amused!