Define Snail Mail

snail mail

noun

informal

1. the ordinary postal system as opposed to email.

The Faerie Grove - Copyright 2008 Howard David Johnson

I have hundreds of pictures stored on my computer - some of them are anonymous but I'm glad to say I know who created this one -  Howard David Johnson.

 I don't think you could find a better representation of a faerie grove no matter how hard you looked.  And as I said last August, everyone should believe in Fairies and Mermaids, Pixie Dust and Grimoires, Snail Mail and La Fee Verte, and Unicorns and Dragons...

Two new cats

Partner-who-loves-tea and I had a wander around Liverpool and the Wirral one day last week doing a few odd jobs and calling in at the Brimstage craft centre.  I bought a couple of cats but their upkeep won’t be quite so expensive in time or money as Mac and Annabel.

A new word for me!

"Tsundoku" (n.) is the constant act of buying books, but never reading them. Specifically, it is letting books pile up in one's room so much that the owner never gets a chance to read all of them. 

The origin of "Tsundoku" is Japanese slang.

Party Time

No - I didn't do this.  I don't even know where I got the picture from but isn't it a clever party idea?

It's a hard life

It’s a hard life being a cat….

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is defined as a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.  I was amused to see on a therapist friend’s Facebook page that there is now a Ladybirds for Adults book on Mindfulness.  I hadn’t even realised there were Ladybirds for Adults until I saw that.  

I bought it for Partner-who-drinks-tea and she laughed out loud as she read me extracts.  In my view it is an essential for the therapist in your life!

Christmas is over

Partner-who-loves-tea is back in work (having also worked a couple of days last week!).  Son-who-watches-movies is recovering from an ill-times bout of flu.  And I am giving the kitchen a Spring clean.  It may not be Spring yet but the warm wet weather of December continues - much to the regret of those in Cumbria who have been flooded out of their homes.  The overflowing rovers must abate soon surely.

The Christmas decorations will come down shortly and in the meantime I have taken down the cards so that P-w-l-t and I could discuss them over dinner last night.  Needless to say some of them had postboxes on them.

Not surprisingly these included ones to me from P-w-l-t and S-w-w-m

Irina in Bulgaria sent this one.

This came from Heleen in the Netherlands. 

From Anastasia in Belarus - a postcard from a Postcrossing friend.

And from Monica in Sweden - a most delightful one.

 

My old school-friend George and his wife Chris sent this one.

And from a former colleague, Marilyn.

There's no postbox on this one but it is a delightful scene photographed by friend David Truby and sent by him and his wife Pat.  It is taken in the castle grounds in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis which does not usually see much snow over the winter.

Thanks to everyone who sent us cards - with or without postboxes!

It's Easter already...

I have been known to complain about how early Christmas goods appear in the shops.  It is one of my best known ‘Grumpy Old Man’ themes.  But now I have another.   Partner-who-loves-tea and I were in Marks and Spencer’s food store in Heswall yesterday (i.e. the Seventh Day of Christmas) and guess what we found on the shelves. 

To quote Victor Meldrew "I do not believe it!"