Shrubs and Trees or Trees and Shrubs

What a brilliant birthday I have just had. 8 people for dinner, a perfect mix and complete and absolute madness the whole evening through. One person wanted to plant a hedge around her porperty to give her some privacy, and she was told she could only plant shrubs - so by the end of the evening we were trying to define the difference between shrubs, trees and hedges. Could a Willow tree perhaps be a shrub ? Well it go ridiculous so much so that we have now clubbed together and purchased for her birthday a book on Shrubs and Trees - whether it will be of any use I have yet to see, but at least it will remind her of a good evening.
Sunday was Hop tu naay and we spent the whole day helping little children (or scarring them for life) to carve turnips. It was an outstanding day, and all in the aid of preserving manx heritage. We gave the children string and a candle to finish off the turnip (manx people do not carve pumpkins - its too easy) and of course the two Ronnies Joke got a bit overused when a family with four children asked for 'four candles'
Tonight was supposed to be an evening of learning the hop tu naay dance, but as it was on the village green and it was about -5 with the wind chill factor - I opted for a video with my visitor of the moment.
Happy Halloween or should I say HOP TU NAAY

walls and hay fields

At last I seem to making some headway with turning my nest into a home. Droo came over this weekend to 'assist' me with the drilling of the necessary holes to put up all my homely things. The blinds went extremely well, but when we got to the chinese ornament holder thingimibobs things took a slight turn . He looked at the first spot, and decided the exisiting holes would be a much better option that drilling into the wall - so now I have this thing perched on the wall at a dangerously low level - whoever knocks it off the wall is going to be extremely embarrassed when it comes flying off the wall.
We started on the next one, and I was determined to get it at the right height. What a performance - Droo was trying to drill, and I was clutching the chair whilst he pushed against the wall. The amount of effort and energy that was needed to just put a silly little hole in the wall was immense. But it turned out that he was trying to drill into an old lintel - so the other chinese ornament holder is also at an unusual level and in a unique position :0) Seems to be the story of my life hanging things on other peoples nails and hooks !!
The grass cutting (or should we re name it the 'harvest') was also a non event and I still have to try and tackle the other half of the field. Greg had left the grass to grow and by the time I got out there avec lawn mower and strimmer it was almost like having a harvest home festival - singing 'bringing in the hay' would not have gone amiss. I brought in half of the harvest and then gave up - can't wait for this weekend when it will an even bigger one ;0)
Joined the Ramsey Choral society and attempting to learn to lip sync parts of the Messiah and a requiem - ready to perform to the Ramsey masses in December.
Break over and back to work I go.

North and south, cat and mouse

It seems to have been an age since I even attempted to log on - Finally I have moved north and into such a lovely house which fits all of my things.
Sooooooo I have been nesting the last couple of days and getting the cats settled after the traumatic journey of 30 miles door to door. Each one was taken individually so I could chat to them and keep them from stressing too much. 180 miles in a day just to move three mogs - must be nuts
Smudge was okay - being 18 she was not even sure where she was, just the odd bit of nausea.
George made such a racket, even Coldplay at full blast did not drown out his protest at being put in the car and being relocated.
Minnie was the piece de resistance. I had the car loaded and was ready to rock and roll and she just had to be popped in the box and off we would go. I grabbed her and just as I had her at the entrance of the cat box she spread all four legs on either side of the opening making it impossible to put her in. So, being quite devious, I let her wander off and settle down whilst I made a few cunning adjustments to the carrier. I lifted the lid and put the gate in place so I could stuff her in put the lid on and we would be off. Not a very good plan at all, as she broke loose before I could lock the lid and took off again. So I pretended I was leaving and shouted out 'goodbye and have a nice day' whilst mopping up the blood from her using my hands and arms as the escape route. When she was relaxed and unsuspecting, I dashed back in with a blanket and whipped her up, into the car, no carrier - nada - and we headed north. By the time we got to the Ballamoda she threw up, and at Ballacraine she settled and slept on my knee.
If I ever move again, she comes with the property :0)