Friday Smiles 2023# Week 38

First of all I apologise for misnaming last week's post as week 38. Goodness the year is rushing past fast enough without me adding on a week. I did correct it but Blogger is not usually willing to save changes to the title.

However here we are in week 38 now and it got off to a good start for me with our Harvest festival at church. This is one of my favourite services of the year and although it is not quite the same now, as we are not allowed to contribute any fresh fruit and vegetables, so the lovely harvest smell is missing, nevertheless, our little church was decorated with generous donations of canned and packaged food which will be passed on the needy folk in Zurgena.

(There are a couple of baskets of fresh food on display but these were either sold off after the service or taken back home. We used to donate the fruit to the children at Zurgena school, but Health and Saftey regulations no longer make this possible!)

When our son Tom visited us in July he asked me for a new jar of my Hot Chilli and Ginger Jam, but I was so surprised to find I had none left. Tom is visiting us briefly again in October so this week I made a new batch of the jam. We both like it as well so it is good to have a new supply. I had a pungent kitchen for a day or two, but it is worth it.

As you know, I now do a lot of my paper crafting using my Silhouette cameo machine, and I have had a project waiting on my 'to do' list for some time. As I am well ahead with my Christmas cards this year I decided I could give it a try and here it is. I love owls, and they do lend themselves to crafting. This one is made from twenty-seven pieces of card - some full size and some small pieces, and it was quite a tricky procedure to assemble them in the right order and right position, but I am very  pleased with the result. As it would likely get dusty quite quickly, I have made a backing paper from a printed pad with added silver sticky stars, and placed it behind glass in a shadow box frame. Fortunately I decided to risk bringing back two frames from Hobbycraft when I visited UK last month, this one, 30cm square, and a smaller 20cm square one, as they are hard to get out here.

I am currently making another owl in a completely different medium and when that is finished I shall hang them together if I can find a space on my wall.

When I bought a new office chair a year or so ago, I kept the old one in my room for the rare occasion when I have a visitor in here, but often it has a cat asleep on it. They like to be near me when I am working and don't seem to mind the noise of my cutting machine, nor the fan. This is Leo who has almost turned himself inside out. I can't see how it can possibly be comfortable, but he didn't stir for ages. In case you can't work him out, the top part is his tummy and his head is mostly under the front paw with just an ear sticking out. Leo is a bit better now. He is eating well, but is still only gaining weight very slowly. He has a few more days of tablets to take and then I will take him to the vet for a further check up.

You may have heard of a movement that is gaining in popularity known as RAOCK, which stand for Random Act of Crochet Kindness. The idea was to make very small pieces of crochet, a flower, heart etc, and leave them in random places for people to find, in the hope it would make them smile. (A bit like the painted stones that are sometimes left around). It has got a bit over the top now with some people making much bigger items, but there are loads of patterns available for small items and I made a few before my holiday. I didn't make mine with the intention of leaving them randomly, but rather most were made with a specific member of my family in mind. So here is my little collection. I made a baby Yoda for my daughter-in-law and of course Flamin'Duck for her husband, and you met him last week. There was a white chicken for Mike because the last of his rescued hens, (a white lady called Karen), sadly died very recently. Ben and Ant got a heart each, but I had posted a pocket hug to Ben just before my visit. There is a frog for Mike's nature loving partner, a cat for my grand-daughter and lots of butterflies that I left in various houses to be found later.

Although Mike and Lucy had already had their chicken and frog, when I left I put an orange butterfly on some sunflowers they had been given and a little pocket hug by Mike's pillow. 

Now almost fifty years ago, on Mike's first Christmas, we gave him a little fluffy white rabbit and they immediately became inseparable. Bunny had many adventures, and had to be rescued from a library shelf where he had fallen asleep during story time, and I even had to buy him back from a lady who had bought him from the RAF thrift store when Mike had put him down to look at something! But in most of the photos I have of Mike as a very young boy, bunny is tucked under his arm, and his thumb is in his mouth. The photo of them asleep on the sofa is one of my favourites. The top one shows what he was like when he arrived on Christmas morning.

Of course he didn't stay white and fluffy for long. First he lost his ribbon from round his neck (Mike used to call it his Loving), then the little blue dress faded and fell apart. But he was still loved as much as ever. Mike would never part with him, and it is the only one of his things that his own children were not allowed to play with.

The next photo shows bunny at around 40 years old, looking as though a trip to The Repair Shop is needed, but I am not sure Mike would want him restored to his former glory. He still loves him just as he is. 

The last photo is one Mike sent me just a few weeks ago. It is his bag packed ready to go to hospital for his spinal surgery, so Yes, bunny went to hospital with him too. Now aged fifty, he is hiding in a rucksack with only his ears sticking out, and in between those ears is the little pocket hug I left by Mike's pillow after my visit. Mike surgery was a success but he has a long road to recovery but at least bunny will be there to keep him company.

I hope this little story has made you smile, and maybe brought back special memories of your time as a parent. However old your children get they are always your boys, or girls, and moments of shared love are so special.

Now I am off to feed my cats, and this is ready to link up to Annie's Friday Smiles, and publish in the morning.