Escape

After the first scan picture - where the baby didn't let on which variety it was, a second scan on Monday revealed it's a girl !

How lovely.  As for names, Grace is a strong possibility at the moment. This also happened to be the name of my late paternal grandmother, although the baby's mum is not aware of this.

My partner and l have already been on a few 'baby-shopping' trips, looking at little clothes and booties and toys and portable cots. He wants to have his grandaughter to have a sleep-over here as soon as possible.

One of his more unusual purchases for her has been, of all things, a crab fishing line. l think it will be a few years before she's ready to try that particular hobby !

This is the first ultrasound photo of my partner's new Grandchild !

This was unexpected !  My partner's daughter has just found out she is expecting a baby in October - and she did'nt even realise she was pregnant !  And she had been using the contraceptive pill, so it was even more of a surprise. 

After the initial shock, and also having some worries about how she would cope with a new baby, my partner is gradually coming around to the idea of becoming a Grandad and is looking forward to it. A photo of the babies' ultra-sound scan is sitting in pride of place in the lounge. The variety is still unknown as yet, as they weren't able to see if it was a girl or boy due to the position of the legs, so when it does put in an appearance it will be a nice surprise.

My niece is expecting her second baby, also in October so we are excited about that too.

As a bonus, we choose four correct numbers on the lottery and won £64 !!

l'm spending a lazy day in after a hectic weekend.

Last Saturday we decided we had to clean out our small (but lovely) garden pond as it had become very dark and dingy rather than crystal clear and healthy. The pond sanils were to blame as they had been eating alot of our plants and oxygenating weed, so sadly we had to remove everything, clean it out and not replace our snail friends. l had quite enjoyed watching them swimming around and pairing up with other snails in that twisting, graceful dance they perform.

On Sunday we walked a mile or so to the cliff top and spent the afternoon at the annual Gala Festival. We enjoyed a Thai Buffet style lunch (l love Thai food, it's so light and delicious and fragrant ) from one of the many portable food outlets and listened to some live music ,  then browsed around the stalls - l bought an armful of books for £1 - and looked at the fairground rides complete with screaming customers. Rather them than me !

lt was enjoyable, and even more so as the sun was shining the whole time which always makes things better ! 

l like opera, and most of us at one time or another has listened to an 'aria' - a popular and usually well-known song from a production - and derived enjoyment from it, whether it be 'Nessun dorma' from Turandot or 'O mio babbino caro'  from Gianni Schicchi.

So l am looking forward to a trip to the theatre in a few weeks time to see 'La Boheme'. lt will be something new and different, and of course a chance to dress up! Always a novel experience since l spend alot of my working day in sensible and unglamourous clothes.

 To familiarise myself with the songs and storyline l've been listening to a cd of it, so when l'm watching the show l can understand what's happening, and also wait with anticipation for my favourite songs. Joining in won't be an option as l don't think the audience would appreciate my enthusiastic warblings, and it's being sung in Italian anyway, but l may be tempted to hum along under my breath !

Quote: 'lt was the best of times, it was the worst of times.'

                        Charles Dickens

l was interested to read that the hugely enjoyable Volkswagen Polo commercial featuring a singing Jack Russell has been pulled from our screens following a barrage of complaints from members of the public, and an investigation from the RSPCA.

Much as l loved the joyous warbling of the Spencer Davis Group track 'l'm A Man', by the 'confident' JR, sitting in the front seat next to his owner and living life to the full, his doggie counterpart - shy, trembling, in a head down, tail between his legs stance did, l admit make me have some misgivings about how exactly this was achieved.

Apparently, the 'shy' version was perched on a motorised plate which made him tremble, but it does'nt explain how the tail and head down 'trick' was done. As this is a classic posture of a frightened and submissive animal and would l imagine be quite difficult to emulate unless the dog was actually feeling scared in some way, l will have to reserve judgement.

lt was a pity they couldn't  have introduced a 'bored' rather than a 'cowering' doggy act instead. Perhaps yawning or filing his nails.  Then it would have been perfect !

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/sh...

While l'm on the subject of animals on TV commercials, l just have to mention the hilarous ads for Teletext Holidays featuring a pair of 'home alone' cats. lnspired!  See it on You Tube.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=RZtKdsirjTs

Well that was an unexpectedly long break - apologies to my readers who have been waiting for the latest blog post.

lt's been a strange beginning to the year, after l thought l'd escaped the winter blues, l suddenly sunk into a kind of apathy, and nothing seemed to be happening that was worth blogging about.

The arrival of a few fine days (apart from some unseasonably vicious snow storms over the Easter break), and shorter nights have lifted my spirits.

l have also discovered a product which has proved useful for those suffering from disturbed sleep, or not being able to drop off at all. Try some melatonin drops. Three or four on a teaspoon, or stirred into a drink and you may find you have a good nights rest. Mine were from a company called agestop.co.uk

The seeds from a variety of tomato called 'Aranta', saved by me last summer, were sown in early February and are now healthy plants, happily basking in the sunshine on my windowsill with some runner beans and cauliflower plants for company.

A few dvds l've enjoyed over the past week or so -not necessarily recent releases but new to me are '- The Cell'; 'Eastern Promises'; 'Society'; and 'Wallace and Gromit - The Curse of the Were-Rabbit'. 'Into The Wild' is next on my list, but l am reading the best selling novel of this first.