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Showing posts from March, 2013

Dilemmas and night caps

How do you cope with doing something that you really, really don't want to do, because you feel that others expect you to do it, and part of you also feels that you probably should do it? Aargh! I don't have the answer and I don't expect anyone else to have it either. The easy option is just to do it anyway, go with the flow, do what is expected and say nothing. While quietly fuming inside and resolving to behave differently the next time. But knowing that when the next time comes, you will still be too much of a coward to say anything and will continue with the doing-what-you-don't-want-to-do-behaviour. On and on and on. Probably. The brave thing to do would be to shock everyone, declare that you no longer want any part of it and refuse to join in. This isn't going to happen. For one thing, there are the responsibilities - the keeping up of appearances and the importance of complying, in order not to influence how others close-by behave. Setting a "bad

The things we promise ourselves

I have promised myself many things.  Of those many things, I have met with only a few. Of those few things, I have held on to fewer. With what is left, I press on and make more promises. Why do we do this to ourselves? Is it a form of masochism in which we doggedly set ourselves up to fail? Over and over again. Perhaps, it is due to blinkered, naive, over-ambition. Or the vagaries of hope. Whatever the cause, the reason - the tick that makes us repeat this folly - the solution is clear: we must stop making promises. What promises have you made to yourself recently? Me? - the usual triad of getting fitter, eating less, losing weight; plus, never again embarrassing myself by screaming and in a distinctly unhinged and undignified fashion leaping around the room, after a spider crawls out of the pyjamas I am wearing. I also promised to write something every day; walk the dogs ... more, further, faster; submit (aargh! - the curse of the procrastinator strikes again); stop eat

Disdainful anthropomorphism

What do dogs mean when they "smile?"  Do they smile in the way we understand smiling ? Does this picture of Four-legged-friend sniffing the air expectantly make his eyes look happy? Is this the beginning of a smile? If you are a cartoon loving, pet obsessive who speaks a running commentary of what you think your mutt is saying, then you are probably of the firm opinion that when his/her jowl drops open lazily, at an angle you interpret as being jaunty, with just sufficient tension left at the corners to turn them up slightly, he/she is smiling at you. Yes! (gently deluded pet obsessive nods vigorously) Definitely smiling! Four-legged-friend and Bertie Baggins do 'smile,' very convincingly, when lying on their backs having their tummies rubbed. But when did you last examine a dog's lips? Relax the canine body - totally - in a I-love-having-my-tummy-rubbed-and-if-I-lie-very-still-you-might-continue sort of a way, and the lips become flabby and fall away f

Of music, muddles and man-hood

What a week that was! What a week this one is going to be! And for one little friend ... twelve days is all that's left. Last week was a week filled with music: Littlest practised her socks off (quite literally - they're still under the piano) and took her first ever music exam. The teacher with the pink socks (Blog entry: Men-should-wear-pink-socks) has clearly instilled in her a laid back, carefree attitude to exams. Which is great: long may it last! - When asked how the exam went, she replied, big eyed, "I just sat back and relaxed and let my fingers do all the work. I didn't know what my hands were doing! My fingers were crawling up and down the piano like a spider. They were out of control! Good out of control ... I think. Thank you hands." Wow! Fingers crossed that the spiders knew what they were doing. She enjoyed her grade one piano exam so much, that she is now starting to work for grade one cello. How will the spiders cope with strings?

Tea towels are indigestible; postal mishaps; and a blustery day

Stupid dogs! You'd think I don't feed them. Outside, it's plastic flower pots - ripped apart; shredded and littered all over the grass. Scattered amongst the chewed plant supports, logs and bits of this-is-big-so-we-can-both-tussle-with-it-and-when-we're-tired-have-an-end-to-chew-each fencing. Plus a couple of no-longer-functional-due-to-severe-mauling brushes and a mis-shapen trowel. Inside, this week, it's been assorted socks; one cow-shaped-or-rather- was -cow-shaped slipper; a wine bottle ... smashed into that's-a-bit-scary-and-sharp-and-oh-dear-I-think-I'm-in-trouble-again-so-I'll-back-away-from-them-and-put-on-my-best-hang-dog-remorseful-expression bits (thankfully); a bath mat; a pair of wet swimming trunks and a tea towel. But the tea towel is the only thing (as far as I know ... so far) that was actually eaten. I'll leave it to your imagination to work out how I know that it was eaten. I'm not a bad parent - really! - everything is

The morning after the night before; a canine-related party-planning tip and a recipe for colcannon

Meant to blog yesterday. But alternating shivers, fever, headache and a dinner party to prepare for eight rather ate up my day. Now - thanks to the new battery in a smoke detector obviously not being a new battery and it's beeping reveille to canine ears, I am over-endowed with time, a sleepy head, and enjoying the peace and quiet of the morning after the night before i.e. my second cup of coffee. Fittingly for my head ( not overindulgence at the wine bottle(s), but thick/ill/achey, remember!) the coffee cup is wrapped in a woolly jumper - a sort of comfort-giving visual vibe. But care is needed, and it's too early for that, or the 'jumper' ends up soggy and your bottom lip all fluffy. It's only 6.35 a.m. And my two friends are already bored and want to go back outside to terrorise the rabbits. Actually, that's a fanciful thought - it would be good if they did indulge in a spot of rabbit inspired I'm-the-predator-you're-the-prey role play,